From Rookie to Reality Case Analysis and Rationale

Part 1: Case Analysis

1. Brief summary of the case:

I (in this situation) work as the interim Principal for Shoreline Elementary after

previously working in the district as an assistant principal. I am hoping to making a great

impression on the superintendent and community to be officially named Principal for

next school year. About two weeks after I was transferred, a homemade pipe bomb was

discovered outside of a classroom at my old school. My former mentor and principal,

Rick King, had the bomb squad called and defused. Shortly after, one morning before

school starts, I find a similar looking object at the crosswalk outside of Shoreline

Elementary and assume that it is another explosive.

2. Identify the issues to be resolved:

 Is the object I found another homemade pipe bomb?

 What do I do with the children, parents, and staff members who are all at the

school dropping off students?

 Do I evacuate the students, parents, and staff members or do I keep everyone

inside because I think it may be safer?

 When I call the authorities, who all do I call?

 If I make the wrong call, does that jeopardize my career opportunities to

becoming the principal at Shoreline Elementary?

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  What if I assume the crosswalk is far enough away, so I don’t do anything, but

then people get hurt? What are the pros and cons to doing anything?

3. Stakeholders involved in the issues:

The students, the parents, the staff members, myself, innocent community

members, the community as a whole, the district as a whole (employees and students

throughout), and the superintendent.

4. One or two existing laws or court rulings that relate to the issues:

 Washington State law

o RCW 9.61.160:

 “It shall be unlawful for any person to threaten to bomb or

otherwise injure any public or private school building, any place of

worship or public assembly, any governmental property, or any

other building, common carrier, or structure, or any place used for

human occupancy; or to communicate or repeat any information

concerning such a threatened bombing or injury, knowing such

information to be false and with intent to alarm the person or

persons to whom the information is communicated or repeated”

(Washington State Legislation, RCW 9.61.160: Threats to bomb or

injure property—Penalty, 2022).

 Court Case

o United States v. Tsarnaev

 In a 6–3 decision in favor of United States that the original capital

punishment for Tsarnaev should stand as the district court “was

responsible for the court to conclude that the proposed question

wrongly emphasized what a juror knew before coming to court

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 rather than revealing potential bias” (Oyez, United States v.

Tsarnaev, 2021).

5. District policies that relate to the issues:

 Marysville Getchell High School [MGHS], Safety Procedure for Evacuation

o “For evacuation (fire, etc.) evacuation (fire, etc.): Designated by a steady

buzzer. Students are to walk quickly to the exit designated for their use.

All students should get clear of the buildings. Teachers will close

classroom doors and accompany students as they leave the building. / Stay

with your teacher/class. At the close of the emergency, the bells will ring

as a signal to return to the building” (Marysville Getchell High School

[MGHS], Student Handbook, 2021).

 Policy No. 3143 (adopted 05/15/2006, revised 04/2021)

o “If there is a specific and significant threat to the health or safety of a

student or other individuals, the district may disclose information from

education records to appropriate parties whose knowledge of the

information is necessary. Timing and details of the notice will be as

extensive as permitted by the federal Family Educational Rights and

Privacy Act, other legal limitations, and the circumstances” (Marysville

School District [MSD] Policies, Students: Student Discipline, Policy No.

3143, 2021).

 Policy No. 3143P (revised 04/2021)

o “The district has a school-based threat assessment program and

investigates reports of possible threats of violence or harm consistent with

Policy and Procedure 3225 – School-Based Threat Assessment” (MSD

Policies, Personnel: Evaluation of Staff, Policy No. 3143P, 2021).

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 o “The district will provide relevant information about the threat to the

subject of the threat, and advise the subject of the threat that if law

enforcement has been involved in the matter. Suspension or other removal

from the school environment can create the risk of triggering either an

immediate or a delayed violent response unless such actions are coupled

with containment and support. When considering the appropriate response

to a student’s threat of violence or harm, the student’s individual

circumstances will be taken into account” (MSD Policies, Students:

Procedures: Notification and Dissemination of Information about Student

Offenses and Notification of Threats of Violence or Harm, Policy No.

3143P, 2021).

 Policy No. 3225 (adopted 04/2021)

o “The threat assessment process is distinct from student discipline

procedures. The mere fact that the district is conducting a threat

assessment does not by itself necessitate suspension or expulsion and the

district will not impose suspension or expulsion, including emergency

expulsion, solely for investigating student conduct or conducting a threat

assessment. Further, suspension, or other removal from the school

environment can create the risk of triggering either an immediate or a

delayed violent response, unless such actions are coupled with

containment and support. However, nothing in this policy precludes

district personnel from acting immediately to address an imminent threat,

including imposing an emergency expulsion, if the district has sufficient

cause to believe that the student’s presence poses an immediate and

continuing danger to other students or school personnel or an immediate

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 and continuing threat of material and substantial disruption of the

educational process” (MSD Policies, Policy No. 3225, 2021).

6. Possible solutions to the issues:

A. Contact the proper authorities to investigate the findings, follow the school policy

and evacuate the building and bring students to the designated safe location, and

send out a mass communication to the district (other schools, the superintendent,

and the families) about the situation, the safety precautions taken, and process of

picking up children.

B. Acknowledge the finding of a metal object in the crosswalk, voice understanding

to the mother and student who told me in the first place, but don’t worry about it

as it is not on school campus and I only am worried about keeping the great

reputation I have in order to officially be named principal.

7. The solution you chose to resolve the issues:

I would choose option A above because it provides the highest amount of upside for the

safety of the students, staff, parents, and innocent community members. This is a clear

moment where our personal goals have to be put aside for the betterment of everyone.

8. Action steps (2-5) for implementing your solution, including a timeline for each step:

 Have my Assistant Principal, Dean of students, or secretarial staff contact the

student safety, or student resource, officer to clear everyone from the crosswalk

area and keep it blocked off.

 Contact the proper authorities (e.g., police (local and state), bomb squad, FBI) to

inform them of the situation. This contact also includes contact to school district,

superintendent, and other schools.

 Put the school in lockdown, have announcement made on intercom for teachers to

check email (email will include information about the situation, procedural

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 reminders, tell teachers to give quick note of what is happening before grand

announcement, and give reminder to keep everyone calm and safe), and follow-up

with a school-wide announcement over the intercom to explain situation to

students.

 Send communication to parents (via email, automated phone message) informing

parents of the situation, the potential of a safe location and student pick-up

process, and confirmation that updates on the situation will come as soon as

possible.

9. Potential moral and legal consequences of the solution:

 Morally:

o By ignoring my personal hope and professional goal, I exemplify a

standard of putting others in front of myself and model the ethical conduct

of using my position to avoid personal gain (National Association of State

Directors of Teacher Education and Certification [NASDTEC], Principle

I, Section A6, 2021).

 Legally

o I am responsible for the safety of the students, the staff, and the families

that are on the campus because principals must disclose information when

presented it if potential threat arises (MSD Policies, Students: Student

Discipline, Policy No. 3143, 2021).

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Part 2: Rationale

A situation such as the one presented may reasonably have only two options. However,

these two options can create both positives and negatives. If I were the interim Principal of

Shoreline Elementary, I would act cautiously—and seriously—by contacting the proper

authorities to check out the suspected pipe bomb, lockdown and eventually evacuate the school

building, and contact district officials and parents in order to keep the students safe.

As the educational leader, I am tasked with a variety of different jobs at once. It is my

responsibility to follow the school’s mission/vision statement to “empower all students…to

become lifelong learners and responsible citizens” (MGHS, Student Handbook, 2021). However,

that being said, I won’t be able to do this for the students if there aren’t any students around due

to an extreme catastrophe or even uprooting of the students.

Shoreline Elementary is acknowledged as the smallest school—with only 720 students—

in a district with 18 other schools. Although it is considered a desirable place to enroll one’s

students, I cannot fathom as the educational leader, or as a parent, allowing students to come to a

school where the principal does not care. Since I took the job as the interim principal, I have

taken great pride in making myself known by the staff, students, and community members. I

have wanted to make myself available. Although, perhaps selfishly at first, due to the desire of

wanting to be named officially as the principal, I ultimately want what is best for the students.

The mother and the student who approached me at the start of this scenario placed the ultimate

trust in me as the educational leader that I would make the right decision, not only for her son,

but for all those who would be involved: students, staff, and the community.

PSEL 5a states that an educational leader must build “and maintain a safe, caring, and

healthy school environment” (National Policy Board for Educational Administration [NPBEA],

2015) while ensuring “that each student has equitable access to effective teachers” (NPBEA,

PSEL 3c, 2015). My decision to report, lockdown, and eventually evacuate the buildings to keep

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the students safe exemplifies these standards as it shows how the students’ needs are put first

rather than a potential public outburst. Additionally, it shows that regardless of which school

these students may be at in the district, there is going to be an equal amount of care and effort

that goes behind maintaining the opportunities to learn.

A code educational leaders must follow is, regardless of personal views, one must uphold

“the procedures, policies, laws and regulations to professional practice” (National Association of

State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification [NASDTEC], Principle I, 2021).

Everything in this situation must be done correctly. That being said, when referring to

Washington State law RCW 9.61.160, specifically the latter portion, there may be some

confusion as to what to do. RCW 9.61.160 states that it is illegal to threaten to bomb and public

or private school, but the latter portion adds that it is illegal “to communicate or repeat any

information concerning such a threatened bombing or injury, knowing such information to be

false” (Washington State Legislation, Threats to bomb or injure property—Penalty, 2022).

Therefore, if I am unsure about the certainty of the potential pipe bomb, that creates the only

moment of a slight hesitation for me to have a potential panic of the entire school if nothing

comes from the investigation.

Ultimately, my decision to investigate the potential threat and—eventually—evacuate the

school creates an opportunity for all the schools within the district to collaborate on their safety

measures and work together to make the safest and most well-rounded school district around.

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 References

Hanson, K. L. (2009). A casebook for school leaders: Linking the ISLLC standards to effective

practice (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. ISBN-13: 9780136126829 (Custom

eBook contains only cases 8, 13, 14, 16, 24, and 38)

Marysville Getchell High School. (2021). Student Handbook.

Marysville School District. (2022). School District Policy and Procedure. Marysville School

District 25. (2022). eConvene Website. (2022). Retrieved 19 July 2022, from

https://app.eduportal.com/publicfolders/1110787/list/46999. Retrieved 19 July 2022.

Model Code of Ethics for Educators (MCEE) – NASDTEC. (2021). Retrieved July 19, 2022,

from https://www.nasdtec.net/page/MCEE_Doc

National Policy Board for Educational Administration (2015). Professional Standards for

Educational Leaders 2015. Reston, VA: Author

United States v. Tsarnaev. (Oct. 13, 2021). Oyez. Retrieved July 19, 2022, from

https://www.oyez.org/cases/2021/20-443

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