Parents outraged after school district labels rape remark ‘inappropriate comment,' not ‘threat'

Middle school parents tell Action News Jax a local school district is not doing enough to protect their daughters, after they said a student threatened to rape them on a school bus.

“My daughter is 10 years old, she's in sixth-grade,” parent Nick Paventi said.  “She had no idea what the word rape meant.”

The St. Johns County School District is not calling what happened a "threat" just an “inappropriate comment.”

Action News Jax crime and safety expert Ken Jefferson, a former sex crimes investigator, said this should be considered a threat and investigated by law enforcement.

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The school district said Valley Ridge Academy didn’t get deputies involved beyond having the school resource officer connect at least one parent with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.

Paventi said the incident happened last Thursday when a middle school student threatened to rape his daughter and a classmate over a seat on the school bus.

“I’m highly disappointed with how Valley Ridge [Academy] has handled this,” Paventi said.

At least one other parent made the same claims to the school district, but they wished to remain anonymous.

“[My daughters] will not be on that bus until I can ensure their safety,” Paventi said.

The school district would not agree to an interview or say how the students involved were punished, citing confidentiality laws.  Valley Ridge’s principal said the action taken was consistent with the code of conduct.

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A school district representative said, "This was investigated thoroughly and was handled as an inappropriate comment, not a threat."

“It’s still a perceived threat,” Jefferson said.  “A person wouldn’t just say that if they weren’t thinking it, or if they weren’t threatening to do it.  So it’s a perceived threat, whether you call it something else, or not.”

Jefferson believes this is a matter for the sheriff’s office, and something at which the school district should take a closer look.

“They should dig into it because in today’s society, you can’t take anything lightly, you can’t brush it under the rug, and say, ‘Oh that’s just kids' play.’  Well, kids' play has gotten a lot of people killed, or hurt, so they’ve got to take it seriously,” Jefferson said.

Paventi wants the school to remove the students involved from his daughter's bus, but they won't tell him if that was part of the disciplinary action taken.

Paventi and another parent, who wants to remain anonymous, will be getting the sheriff's office involved Tuesday.

Cox Media Group