KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Center Middle School is now part of the long list of area schools where violent threats have been reported in the past week.
A student was arrested Monday morning for allegedly making a threat at the south Kansas City, Missouri, school.
A spokesperson for the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department confirmed the investigation is ongoing.
KSHB 41 reached out to find out if the student has been charged, but is waiting on a response.
The district’s letter to families Monday said school leaders found a threatening message stating violence would happen Wednesday at the school.
"Our staff used the camera system to identify the student responsible for leaving the message," the letter to families stated. "The Kansas City Police Department was immediately notified, and they are currently investigating all leads associated with the threat. We are following all appropriate procedures. We want to assure you that there is no current threat to our schools."
Tyler Brickley sends his daughter, Clara, to Center Middle School to learn and ask questions.
On Monday, she looked to her father for the answers.
“She said, ‘Dad, there were police at the school. There were a lot of police at the school and I was scared,’” Brickley said. “Is there going to be a shooting, am I safe at school?’”
Brickley had questions of his own.
"I was pretty concerned," Brickley said. "I was initially thinking, 'Should I go get her from school and bring her home?' I talked about it with my wife, and we felt like everything was being handled really responsibly and let Clara stay in school today."
But it's still the kind of topic that's difficult to teach.
"It feels so unsettling as a parent to not have all the answers for your kids, to not be able to tell them exactly what’s going to happen," Brickley said. "I hate that feeling."
His wife, Molly, shares the same concerns, but a different perspective.
“The issues of firearms are something that I am seeing my clients deal with each and every day,” she said.
Molly’s work with victims of violence means she's often exposed to proposed gun legislation and state lawmakers in Jefferson City.
Though the threat at Center Middle School was not classified as a gun violence incident, the recent national violence in schools like Apalachee High School in Georgia or local incidents like the Olathe East High School shooting in 2022 serve as reminders of worst case scenarios.
“For middle school and high school, it’s mandatory to have clear backpacks and to go through metal detectors, so that is a recent change that’s happened just since we’ve moved here in the last three years,” Brickley said. “The pressure that we put on schools to do everything is a lot.”
Brickley said there’s only so much the district, police and teachers can do. She’d like to see a reconsideration of what age minors in Missouri have access to firearms.
“The access that someone who doesn’t have a fully-developed brain, that children have to have firearms allows them to be able to be impulsive, allows them to be able to make decisions that they shouldn’t be able to make,” Brickley said.
As both an educator and a parent, Candis Francis understands what today’s youth are up against.
“I do feel like they’re babies, but I do feel like they’re also put in predicaments to where they have to be older than what they are,” Francis said.
As a longtime Center School District resident, Francis loves the district and wants to see it thrive.
That also means she's been around long enough to see more than other families.
“Now it seems like it’s every school year, no matter what, and that it’s popping up more and more, almost like it’s becoming a game to some younger children or students,” Francis said. "I hate to say it but [I have] a desensitized reaction."
As desensitizing as things can be, she and the Brickley's say they appreciate the district's communication and don't think you could ever have too much information.
“Everything that I would have wanted as a parent, they delivered on in terms of the second they heard about something, they’re sending emails, they’re sending texts to let us know that something might be going on,” Tyler Brickley said.
However, Francis does say better communication is needed for students.
“Trying to figure out why these babies feel like they need to threaten the school, or why these babies feel like they have to hurt someone in order to feel better about a situation,” Francis said. “We want them to be able to navigate through their emotions and still feel like they’re a good person and that they’re meant to be here on this earth.”
It’s a learning process for both students and parents.
“I don’t want to normalize threats of violence in school, but I also want to be able to talk to them about the terrible things that can happen in the world,” Brickley said.
