CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – A Clay County mother asked News4Jax for help after she said an elementary school student wrote a letter threatening that her daughter would be choked and stabbed by multiple students.
Jessica Webster said the Clay County Sheriff's Office got involved, but it couldn't do much because the students involved with the letter didn't have prior records. News4Jax contacted the Clay County school district and found out the students were disciplined according to the student code of conduct.
There are disciplinary actions in the student code of conduct ranging from detention to expulsion, but Webster said she doesn't know why the students didn't receive a harsher punishment and questions the response to the incident involving her 10-year-old daughter, who's a student at Plantation Oaks Elementary School.
"I received a call from the principal the day before stating that they received a letter. They found a letter stating they would harm my daughter," Webster said. "The following day, I went to the school to speak with the principal. I saw the letter the kids were stating what they were going to do to her."
According to Webster, a few students were involved in the letter plotting to stab her daughter and take off running. She said when the principal found out, the students were given "in-school suspension," which involves spending the day in a room away from regular classes.
"When you hear a 10-year-old plotting that they were going to stab your child, for me, that was a concern," Webster said.
Webster said she took matters into her own hands and contacted law enforcement.
"I then called the nonemergency number to 911. They came out. They did an event report. They said they would handle it," Webster said. "They said it was nothing better they could do because they didn't have any records of them harassing her."
On Wednesday afternoon, a school district spokeswoman sent News4Jax the following statement:
Clay County District Schools addressed this incident immediately when it occurred in January. Law enforcement was contacted and investigated the incident with no findings. The student was disciplined as outlined in the Code of Student Conduct. The school and District followed all protocols and procedures as it relates to this incident. The District will continue to take every precaution to protect the health and safety of our students."
The Sheriff's Office report reads, "After further investigation, it was determined the students were not serious about the note and it was a joke."
"It's upsetting. I would think they would take it a little more serious," Webster said. "Like I told the officer, I don't want to be on the news three months from now saying, 'Oh my God. My daughter is hurt. I wish I would've done more.'"