Letter: Legacy’s lack of communication on ‘Kill List’ is disturbing

By Jay Hall

Aside from Political Opinions from the candidates running for office, there are opinions that have not been expressed in public regarding a recent school event at Maricopa Legacy Traditional School.

Please keep in mind that much of what you are about to read was reported through the grapevine, but some of the details come from involved sources within the Maricopa Legacy Traditional School.

On an unspecified date about two weeks ago, a fifth grade student had compiled a “Kill List,” or what I would describe as a “Murder List,” comprised of several students within the school.  The culprit decided to share his/her list with another student, and the observing student took the list and handed it to an adult within the school.

From what I can glean through the rumor mill, the culprit was removed from school, Maricopa Police Department was contacted, and when the incident was reported to the parents of the murder-minded child, the parents tried to downplay the severity of the situation.  Albeit, the rumor mill has cited that weapons were available to said culprit within his household.

Given all of this, it’s easy to surmise that Maricopa was merely one step away from being ranked with the sad and horrible events of Columbine and other events like it.  As a parent, I am astonished with the lack of transparency coming from both the local and district levels of Legacy Traditional School.

Why do I learn about these things from a fellow Legacy parent, while attending a baseball event several days later?  Why has there been zero communication with the parents of Legacy?  The Golden Quill comes out regularly and on time…. we get nothing when a murder-minded child has threatened to extinguish the lives of fellow students.  Why are the students of Legacy not questioning the staff and demanding that information be shared with their parents?

I am demanding a response from Legacy Traditional School, as of right now.  My patience has run out. The district has not responded to my request to have a copy of the policies regarding an event like this.  The silence has become too much.

I think Legacy is a great school, but along with other involved parents, I am expecting a meeting or a correspondence to occur that is long overdue.  If it is appropriate to have Maricopa Police Department attend this meeting and the Legacy District spin doctors to attend, then so be it.  Legacy, get your act together and let the community of parents know what is going on and the steps you are taking, the policies that are in place, how you are amending your policies based upon events such as this.  Your silence about this event is deafening.

You need to respond to the parents’ requests or risk losing students who love to call Legacy their school.  The silence has created a lack of confidence because you have not shared with the parents exactly what you do, how you respond, what actions you take when a murder-minded child is purportedly steps away from bringing death to our kids and your campus.

Dispel the rumors now and have a meeting at the gymnasium to let the parents know what is taking place regarding this incident.  We have the right to know.

Jay Hall is a resident of Maricopa.