April 3, 2019

Dear Parents/Guardians, Sunlake Academy of Math and Science,

I appreciate the many supportive calls and emails I’ve received since last Friday regarding the
report televised by ABC News. Sunlake is fortunate to enjoy a community of parents who
believe in the school’s mission, value the incredibly dedicated instructional staff and who are
eager to see the school grow into its full potential. I’ve also heard from parents who believe that
communication from the school was insufficient to explain a possible threat to the safety and
security of students. The news report claimed there was a conscious effort by the school’s
administration to cover up a serious threat. This is simply not the case.

Ken Green, CSA’s Sr. Vice President for Education, and I have dedicated much of the last
several days conducting an internal investigation of what took place on March 12th and why
school communication was out of sync with what was being rumored on social media. We’ve
had conversations with the school’s administrative team Mrs. Marisa Martinez, Principal, and
Mr. Chris Wilson, Assistant Principal, Dr. Margaret Fahringer, Area Director for Sunlake
Academy, School Safety Officer (SSO) and with persons from Hillsborough County Schools.

What we found is that at no time was there a credible threat to student safety and no imminent
danger of harm. We also firmly believe there was no intention to cover up a threat within the
school. However, a set of circumstances led to the school releasing an initial statement that did
not include all available information and was therefore inaccurate.

On March 12 – The SSO was conducting his typical security walks when he learned of a student
with a knife in class. What he found upon investigation was a student with a common pocket
knife. The student never threatened anyone but did show it off to a few students. By state law, a
common pocket knife is not considered a weapon unless it is used as a weapon or used to
threaten someone. However, school policy prohibits knives on campus. Because Principal
Martinez and Assistant Principal Wilson were offsite attending training organized by
Hillsborough County Schools, the SSO confiscated the knife and reported the incident to Dr.
Margaret Fahringer. Dr. Fahringer was providing administrative coverage on March 12th while
Principal Martinez and Assistant Principal Wilson were required to be away from the school.

Shortly after the knife was taken away, the student was apparently frustrated and made a verbal
threat about shooting up the school. This threat did not become known to Dr. Fahringer or the
SSO until the end of the day, as they were reported by students just before dismissal. The threat
was not known by Principal Martinez or Assistant Principal Wilson until the morning of March
13th when Hillsborough County Sherriff’s officers arrived on campus. There was
miscommunication among the leaders on campus about what happened and when it happened.
This miscommunication resulted in a text and phone call early the morning of March 13th that
stated there was no threat and that rumors were false. The school’s communication failed to
address the verbal threat as those statements had not yet been investigated. Hillsborough County
Deputies completed their investigation on March 13th. The Deputy’s investigation confirmed
there was no credible threat.
Our governing board, the school’s leaders and all of us at CSA take school safety and security
very seriously. The safety and security of students and staff is a top priority. We are concerned
that the miscommunication occurred and we are taking steps to ensure this will not happen again.
We fully support the administrative team in place at Sunlake Academy and are confident that
they will continue to lead the school on its journey toward excellence.

We look forward to regaining the confidence of the school community and continuing the
academic programs that are rapidly establishing Sunlake Academy as THE school of choice in
the Lutz area.

Sincerely,

Michael G. Strader
Project Director, Sunlake Academy
President, Charter School Associates, Inc.

Ken Green
Sr. Vice President for Education
Charter School Associates, Inc.