CORAL SPRINGS, FLA. (WSVN) - A South Florida high school student and his mother are speaking out after, they said, the school suspended the teen, not for making a threat, but for trying to spread the word about one.
The teen, a ninth grade student at J.P. Taravella High School in Coral Springs, and his mother, Fayssanya Pratt, spoke to 7News on Friday.
“My intention was just to keep them safe, and I thought that they were going to shoot up the school,” said the student, who was not identified.
That intention now has the student suspended for nine days, after, he said, he tried to warn his classmates.
The teen and his mother said they caught wind of a troubling text.
“It’s terrifying, very unsettling. I didn’t even want him to go to school,” said Pratt.
The concerned parent said received a screenshot on Thursday showing a conversation between students.
One wrote, “I am going to kill at 3rd period. I am sorry.” The student went on to text, “I must get revenge” as well as, “This is because of the constant bullying.”
Pratt said these threats led to her warning other parents and giving her son permission to share the text with his friends for their safety.
But that decision didn’t sit right with school administrators, who said he crossed the line.
In a statement, Broward County Public Schools spokesperson Keyla Concepcion for the school wrote, “Students are taught to report threats and not to spread them. When students do the latter, it can disrupt the learning environment and result in discipline in accordance with the Code Book for Student Conduct.”
The threat led the school to be temporarily placed on lockdown.
Pratt said, in addition to the suspension, her son is facing possible expulsion.
“My son couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat, he couldn’t eat, he was stressed out,” she said. “He never knew that to send out this text, it would cause an issue, and I didn’t know as a parent, and for them to make an example of him, I think is wrong.”
Pratt said her son is an honor roll student, and she doesn’t agree with this punishment.
Her son is hoping the district will have a change of heart.
“It makes me feel that it was unfair, that I’m being mistreated in some way, because all I was trying to do was to just save my friends’ lives,” he said.
Because of student privacy, district officials cannot confirm or deny the student’s punishment or suspension. They indicated the “see something, say something” policy consists of students reporting threats to the district and not to other students.
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