Sheriff: Teen will remain in alternative school

Covington County Schools Superintendent Shannon Driver confirmed Friday that a student at Straughn High School after making threats among his fellow students last week has been removed from the school.

Driver said that a student at SHS made a threat to others at the school last Friday.

“We just had a student make a threat and we just followed up with it,” Driver said. “It was resolved last week. There’s a lot of information and stuff out there about it, but it was resolved and handled like we normally would.”

SHS Principal John Evers was made aware of the incident that occurred outside of a classroom, and he followed up with an investigation in the matter. Additionally, a determination was made to have a disciplinary hearing, at which it was decided that the student would be removed from the school.

Driver said that law enforcement was notified, and that it was a part of the process.

“All of the proper and appropriate steps were taken to ensure the safety of the students,” he said. “It was a threat that was dealt with and that’s been done.”

Because of privacy laws and the fact that the student is a minor, Driver couldn’t disclose the name of the student or go into specific detail about the incident.

“Clearly, I’m not at liberty to discuss any specific measures that were taken with a student because of privacy rights,” Driver said. “He (the student) was not back at Straughn. My main thing is that he’s not back at Straughn. He was removed.”

Driver said the student was not expelled, nor arrested.

Covington County Sheriff Dennis Meeks said the student will spend the remainder of his school year in alternative school.