Students return to school after threats caused drop in attendance

Manatee County students have returned to school after the fear caused by school threats caused a drop in attendance.

By Tuesday — nearly two weeks after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County — the average daily attendance rate in the Manatee County School District had hit 95.14 percent of students. Average daily attendance in the district is typically about 94 percent, according to spokesman Michael Barber.

The attendance rate first saw a notable decline in district schools on Feb. 16, two days after the shooting, when only 90.36 percent of students were present.

As nearly a dozen school threats plagued the county last week, the district saw its attendance rate decline each day. By Friday, when the district asked middle and high school students to leave their backpacks at home, only 85.4 percent of students were present.

Katya Koshedub’s 15-year-old daughter was not present when Manatee High School went on full lockdown last week. The mother of two had received a call from the school at about 8:30 p.m. Feb. 20, alerting her of a second threat of a shooting at the school.

But while the recorded message told her of an arrest in the first threat against Manatee High, it was what the call didn’t tell her that prompted her decision.

“If you tell me you have no further information and you leave a message on my phone the night before that there is a threat, I can’t sent my kid to school,” Koshedub said.

When she saw the news about Manatee High being on lockdown the following day while at work, it confirmed that she had made the right decision, she explained.

Koshedub sent her daughter, a sophomore, back to school on Thursday, Feb. 22. On Friday, however, she sent her to school with some hesitation, she said, after learning that backpacks would not be allowed.

“My kid went with just a pen and piece of paper, no lunch,” Koshedub said.

By Wednesday, she felt all had returned to normal at school but was not at all surprised to hear about the decline of attendance last week.

“Maybe some parents and children are taking advantage but I am not trying to take advantage,” Koshedub said. “She wants to go to school.”

Noami Gonzalez was among one of the first parents to arrive on campus after Southeast High School went into a full lockdown on Feb. 21. Her daughter, Anelis, was also one of the first students to be signed out of school early when the lockdown ended hours later.

Anelis walked out of school with tears streaming down her face that day, and told the Bradenton Herald about how terrified she had been. When the family later went to church, the 15-year-old couldn’t stop crying, her mother said in Spanish.

Members of their church prayed with the teen, but still she was too scared to go to school on that Thursday or Friday.

“I was scared, but even more so she was,” Gonzalez said.

The concerned mother spoke to teachers and staff at Southeast and Lee Middle School, where her 14-year-old son is in eighth grade. But she was still worried when she dropped off all three of her children at school Monday, including her 9-year-old son who attends Bayshore Elementary.

Her eldest son had also been scared, she said.

“He asked us to buy him a cell phone in case something happens so that he could call us,” Gonzalez said.

Looking forward, both mothers said they would like to see more security measures in place.

Koshedub said she would like to see assault riffles banned but opposes teachers being armed. Gonzalez said she would like to see all backpacks searched, not just some, and metal detectors to ensure no one is bringing a weapon on campus.

Both mothers agreed on one thing: the need to tighten security at school entrances.

“This could happen anywhere,” Gonzalez said. “Here, anyone could walk into the office.”

They both questioned why there wasn’t any security standing at school entrances.

“I personally don’t understand how anybody off the street can walk off the street and just walk into school,” Koshedub said. “I just park the car and walk right in.”

This story was originally published February 28, 2018 at 5:37 PM with the headline "Students return to school after threats caused drop in attendance."