All righty, here we go. I’ve compiled a lot of rumors that have been going around about this “situation” in the Danville Public Schools.
Let’s recap what I’ve found out so far. This article will be updated if I can factcheck any other rumors.
If you have any rumors that you’d like factchecked, post them in the article comments.
- “There will be extra police presence at Danville schools tomorrow.” – This one is TRUE. There will be extra officers at George Washington HS, and Bonner & Westwood Middle Schools. This will be in addition to the regular school resource officers and security personnel. There will also be staff from the central office assigned to the schools to help out. There will also be a Danville Public Schools employee inside the front entrance of every school.
- “GW Principal Withers Jackson had his life threatened at the school today.” – FALSE. This did not happen. Jackson said that this did not happen.
- “A firearm was found during a search of GW today (or) A student showed a gun at GW today.” – Any version of this rumor is FALSE. No weapons were found in any manner at GWHS today.
- “A gun was found at the Danville Public School central office (at some time)” – I have spoken to the Danville Police Department and this is also FALSE.
Four factchecks down. I’m glad to work on any others that you send me.
Is this Danville specific? I have heard that this phenomenon is nationwide. I hope not!
Yeah, this rumor has been spotted around the country. I’ll check into whether it’s had the successful endgame like it’s seeming to have here (the complete disruption of the educational system).
Yeah, it’s mighty convenient that the students already have a three-day weekend and now this craziness gives them an excused Friday as a bonus. There will be very, very little education going on inside those particular schools. It’s like any coordinated skip day: attendance reaches a sort of critical mass, limiting what can get accomplished when the majority of students is missing. If I were still in the classroom, it would be ideal for a catch-up day for kids and adults.
Bingo.
Exactly… kids don’t have much better to do by nature… and to get something stirred up and people talking is a teens dream. A free day off of school is an even better dream for a kid. If there was a reason to be concerned, I’d understand it. But unfortunately a bunch of parents and others blew this gossip WAY out of proportion.
Like anything in life, if you tell 1 person something – and that story is told to a few other people, each person adds their own spin/facts (either on purpose or by accident). Before you know it, the fact is changed to a completely different thing. Some of the comments I saw on Leonards facebook page should have a lot of people embarrassed by things they said.
I know for a FACT that number 4 is TRUE!!! I was told by the man who found it yesterday!! It was in a bush and was an older gun. I spoke with him at 2:20 this afternoon!
According to Lt. John Henderson at the Danville Police Department, you’ve been lied to. I’ll believe him over an unidentified source. Got something that I can verify myself? The FALSE rating stands.
I pray nothing happens tomorrow, then u can be right! This city covers so many things up, why would u expect this to be different?
The man who found the gun has worked for the school system for 15+ years and doesn’t believe it is connected to the other threats! I will continue to believe a decent person over the police who are bought!
And no sir, I will not give u his name. No one wants to be harassed by u. But u can view Leonard Harvilles Facebook page, he reported the gun found at the school board.
No thanks. No name, no sourcing.
Oh yes, Danville is a regular DC when it comes to cover-ups…not. All of this was nothing more than a stupid rumor concocted by morons and spread by idiots via social media, the worst invention of our time.
I am throwing the BS flag on this. There were no guns found on, in, or around school property, unless “someone” found something off campus and instead of reporting it to the police or school officials, chose instead to keep it to themselves and only share it on FB or Twitter. ….. shameful.
It doesn’t help a bunch of parents and immature people took to every possible way to spread gossip and rumors before they were proved true, which just made the whole situation worse and blow up faster. Some of the comments and hysteria I read was ridiculous. You shouldn’t dismiss rumors like this, but you also shouldn’t run around making more hysteria until you have facts to back up what you’re saying. Kids are back for their first week, are bored, missing summer, and have wild imaginations that love to run wild with gossip. They are KIDS. Don’t put adult decisions and thoughts into what kids say
I will err on the side of caution, rather than blowing it off as a hoax. You never know these days what’s in the mind of people and if this even got started by a student. Hysteria or not, everyone just be careful!
I’m sorry, but if anyone or anything threatens my children, I will do whatever I can to protect them. And if that means they miss 1 day of school because there might be a shooting. Then so be it. Nobody knows what another person is thinking, or planning. NOBODY knows all the facts.
Don’t be sorry, be logical. There might be a shooting at Walmart today. That’s not going to stop you from taking the child there.
I am logical. Anything can happen anytime. But when it comes to my children, I’d rather you call me stupid or whatever. But I know I did the right thing by keeping them home. My oldest was afraid to goto school before I even new about it. I told her she was being paranoid and made her go Thursday. But we got no assurance from the school or PD that they were just rumors so I kept all of them home.
I factchecked all of that.
And who are you? A blog? And your facts are wrong. I know they found a gun by the school. Related or not your wrong. This is a small town, everyone knows everyone.
Read the article. I spoke to the police department.
And the police department lied to you. I read your article and it’s bull. Your arrogance is why people today think they are invincible. I’m not sending my 13 year old to school to fend for her self trapped in a room. If nothing happens that’s great. I hope not. My daughters life is worth more than your bad rescources, lies, coverups and a bunch of maybes.
My resources are accurate. My articles are accurate. Thanks for your comments.
last year Sheriff Taylor gave speechs saying there were dangers and threats and kids and parents could no longer be trusted. It was a fear speech to get people to feel a need for his safety program. He has stoked fears for months and now this is the logical result.
Last school year a parent was banned from Gw due to a threat to a teacher. Security was involved. You didn’t read about, you don’t know it . You won’t get a report from the police. This person was stopped by security in the hallway, recorded on camera. The sro stopped the parent. The parent then threw an item down the hallway. What might have happened had the parent made it to the teacher?
Don’t say the school is safe. You need to spend a few hours on the hallways at gwhs to reallyunderstand.
Give me more info and I can expose this. Without more info, this stays in the shadows. I have no problem asking the direct questions needed to get to the bottom of things.
if a parent threatened people at the school they would have been charged and take to court, it sounds like more rumor spreading here. I don’t believe for a second that a police officer would have not have charged this person. Last year Taylor made big stories about the kid with a shotgun hanging on the back rack of a truck. It’s a big fear campaign going on about school safety from Taylor and it is working in driving people into a frenzy.
Agreed. I always ask for more information to factcheck. I rarely get it.
The super didn’t want the public to know.
I’m going to give that a “HALF TRUE” rating, sadly. I will be speaking to the school board at their next meeting.
I was the only person trying to get rumors squashed with facts and I didn’t get much communication from the central office. They could have done a lot better.
I like the one where Sheriff Taylor explains Romeo and Juliet best. That deputy Fife now, he can spread a rumor…
Dear SC do you really think the Danville Police Dept. would confirm the finding of a gun on school property? I personally find that hard to believe. Even though GWHS was almost a ghost town today if the police had have said yes they found a gun on the property then it would have been worse. Parents are already on edge with all the violence happening in schools today, child safety is a big issue. A school in Texas has the rite idea. Gun carrying teachers must maintain a handgun license, pass a psychological evaluation, and undergo firearms and emergency responce training. More schools adopt this policy things would change in the schools.
Freedom of information. ….. request the information from the police department. There were no guns found, but some people ( Read conspiracy theorists) will not believe it because someone knows someone who was told that someone found a gun. The lack of proof mixed with the mob mentality would be funny if it were not so very truly pathetic.
Here’s the problem. Once people are confronted with facts that go against their hysteria, they then point the finger saying the police department is lying. That’s another level of ignorance that we have to stomp down and kill.
It is your no nonsense commentaries that I do so enjoy! It’s the lemming mentality displayed by so many in our community that is partially to blame for our city’s decline.
Bruce, it seems if you do not fall for the Facebook or other social media drama on these topics, you are deemed arrogant. These flip flop wearing, Walmart shopping, fake tanned ladies and the girly men fearing the Purge are a good representative of Danville VA. I am proud to be considered arrogant!
A bb gun was brought inside the school last year. Was it reported?
It would have been if I had been tipped on it and asked the police and/or schools directly.
Hahaha, you don’t understand do you?
No. You don’t understand what good investigative reporting can do.
If you were as good as you say you are you would much more about what goes on the schools. You could learn a lot by being in the halls before school and during class change. You would have an eye opening experience. Much goes on that the central office will never tell. It is internal, usually involves minors under 18. and you will never know. The school board probably doesn’t know. If they do, they won’t tell. Privacy of the children, mind you.
If however, the police are involved due to injury, maybe it will be reported, but maybe not. How about the assault on teachers? It never reaches the public. How about the thefts from teachers and other students? How about activities in restrooms, under stairwells? You never hear, and won’t. You gonna ask the principal, central office, and school board? Haha, you will learn nothing. They ain’t gonna tell you, no matter how good you think your investagative skills are.
Privacy trumps your skill.
Besides, the school won’t admit to the public these problems exist. They didn’t admit bonner problems until the parents made it public. Central office still sweeps a lot under the rug.
You need to go into the hallways and witness what is happening, not ask central office or school board.
I’ve just started doing this fulltime. Quit bitching about how I can’t do it. Get me something that I can work with.