Superintendent, school board address Kilby Shores Elementary School incident

Nearly a month after Vontrail Marquis Thorpe made his way into Kilby Shores Elementary School and barricaded himself in a female bathroom with two students inside, Suffolk Public School Superintendent Dr. John B. Gordon III and school board members made their first public comments since the incident during the Thursday school board meeting.

Before providing a timestamped recap of the 11-minute event on June 14, Gordon said SPS does not address safety and security measures in the public eye, a statement he has stood behind since his tenure as superintendent began and that the board also supports.

“We have made that very clear, and for some reason, when it comes to this incident, even though I’m sure that the public understands and knows that the school division, along with the Suffolk Police Department, has been working collaboratively to change and adjust some things, I still don’t understand why we are now expected to share what new safety measures have been put in place,” Gordon said.

Gordon discussed media reports that followed the incident and addressed a few questions posed in those reports. The first was what additional safety measures are being put in place, to which Gordon responded, “So I guess we are supposed to be able to inform everyone of what we’re going to do so that another security incident could potentially occur, but someone is trying to digest and dissect that.”

The other asked what additional discipline would happen to the teacher, to which he replied, “That is a personnel matter. So why would the school division communicate about a personnel matter?”

Gordon thanked school staff and board members for not responding to media inquiries.

“See, I want to [say] thank you to all of our staff and administrators and school board policy for when the same investigative reporter reached out to staff, reached out to our school board members that no one responded,” Gordon said.

Board member Tyron Riddick said the two questions should have been easily answered.

Board member Dr. Dawn Marie Brittingham said she is grateful to the Kilby Shores staff, administration, and Suffolk Police Department for the quick response, and there were no injuries. Still, she was critical of the time it took to have a conversation about the incident.

“I’m grateful that no one was hurt,” Brittingham said during her closing comments. “I’m grateful that the police were able to come on-site and secure the individual that got into the building. But I’m very concerned at the fact that it took almost a month to have a conversation. Too many questions unanswered for families, too many questions unanswered for, you know, school personnel, too many questions unanswered for the community as a whole.”

Brittingham called Gordon’s report during the meeting a “good step forward,” but she also said she felt they could and should do better.

Board member Tyron Riddick was more critical of the lack of communication and delays in receiving information.

Riddick questioned how long it took him to receive updates, saying he received an update on June 14 and nothing until the July 11 meeting. He then said he requested a full report on June 21 but never received one and felt blindsided by a news report showing a video of the entire incident.

“I requested, on … June 21, to have a full, thorough report where video was relayed and released to us, and [to] not get the report and then to be danced around as to when it was going to be presented, to get the agenda, not know where it was going to be presented, It’s mind baffling … I shouldn’t have to wait nine days to figure out where something is on a report or wait almost a month to get the inner workings of the report.”

Brandon Randleman, a member of the Safety Audit Committee, expressed that the incident should not be taken up as “business as usual.” He reflected on the video of the incident that was released.

“What I saw was a man that was addicted to some type of drug [managed] to get on our school campus, get around the back, go past dozens of students on a playground, get into a building and lock himself in the bathroom. Nothing about that is ordinary and none of that should be business as usual,” Randleman said.

Randleman continued.

“We are looking for answers. We are looking for collaboration. We want to make sure that our students are safe. That’s all we’re asking for, and it should not be stuffed on the agenda where the public don’t even know that we’re having a discussion about this,” Randleman said. “This situation could have turned out a whole lot worse – this gentleman could’ve had a field day on the playground with these kids! The teachers had to run out and get the kids off the playground!”

Board member Dr. Judith Brooks-Buck criticized the media coverage of the incident, saying it made her sick to see and hear about it constantly when the entire incident lasted 11 minutes and 47 seconds.

“This whole thing lasted 11 minutes, but it’s been in the media, and it made me sick because I thought, one, I don’t need you to show people how to get in the school,” she said during her closing remarks. “Two, I don’t need you to keep talking about it. Three, I need you to shut up because it took 11 minutes and 47 seconds for this whole thing to happen. The police said we did what we were supposed to do.”

Gordon’s report on the incident also acknowledged that it was a security issue that he hopes never happens again.

“I also want to remind the entire public school community that, yes, this was a security issue. Yes, this was an event that we all want to make sure that never had happened and hopefully never will happen again,” Gordon said. “But, there also were no injuries, and the safety team, under the leader of Dr. Brown, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Lafayette, Mr. Boone and others, have already modified some of the procedures for going outside. See, these are the recommendations that I am ok sharing with the community.”

Gordon talked about speaking personally with the children’s families affected by the incident, calling them “the most important in this issue.”

“Because it was those two students that were in the bathroom that had to experience this. This is why we declined to comment and stated that we did not want to ‘retraumatize’ those students. That is the direct feedback from one of the parents,” he said. “Every now and then, when this story comes out, every now and then when somebody asks about it, it takes our little students – and these are littles here – back to that day. So we have to ask ourselves, what is more important here?”

Thorpe is facing abduction and trespass charges and is currently in Western Tidewater Regional Jail, where he is awaiting trial

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