By Lewis Michael
Many rumors and theories on the recent removal of Principal Robin Shrum from W.W. Robinson Elementary School in Woodstock have been going around Shenandoah County. We have obtained information regarding the incident that likely is the cause of her no longer running the school.
On March 2nd, 2023, at 8:25 am W.W. Robinson Elementary School Resource Officer J.D. Thompson was made aware of oral threats allegedly made by a student to kill or injure others. The student had made these threats at approximately 2:45 pm on the previous day, March 1, according to Principal Robin Shrum’s statement to the officer when he was summoned to her office to investigate the incident.
The investigation then proceeded according to the Sheriff’s incident report, obtained by The Freedom Press, which resulted in a search of the juvenile’s person, bookbag, and home for weapons. Fortunately, no weapons were found and the threat was deemed non credible. During the investigation by the Sheriff’s Deputy it was reported that the threat was allegedly made in response to another juvenile student telling a teacher that the student, who made the threats, was not doing his school work in class. The student then retaliated by stating he would bring weapons to school and shoot people. After the Sheriff's deputy interviewed the student and contacted his parent(s)parent, a psychological evaluation and assessment of the juvenile were both made through the countythrough county Department of Social Services and Winchester Medical CenterCente. Subsequently, the child was deemed a low level threat according to the incident report. The students involved in this incident are seven years old, and their names are withheld for privacy reasons in allin the all correspondence on the incident.
The timing of Principal Shrum’s decision to involve the proper authorities is likely the cause of her being relieved of her duties as principal.
This report from Shrum to the Sheriff’s deputy camedeputy came almost 16 hours after the alleged threat had been made, which is a clear violation of procedure in regards to a threat made against others, particularly in a school setting. One can only wonder why so much time was allowed to elapse between the initial report by the concerned parent and the involvementinvolment of the Shenandoah County Sheriff's Department. Ms. Shrum has not answered requests for comment via email or phone up to this point. Neither the School Board nor Superintendent is able to comment publicly on school personnel matters, but the personnel report available on the Shenandoah County Public Schools website shows show Ms. Shrum being employed presently in the School Board office in an administrative role. This has caused many citizens to wonder why such a move would be made.? Seemingly, if such an egregious error was made, a termination of a contract would seem appropriate.
In this day and age, with school shootings being such a common occurrence, any threat must be taken very seriously. Oneseriously one can only speculate why the person in charge of overseeing the safety of a particular school on a daily basis would wait for such a long time to initiate a threat assessment. The Shenandoah County Public Schools have a Threat Assessment Policy threat assessment policy and teams in place to immediately deal with such an issue. With the tragedy recently committed in Nashville, one must wonder how or why a principal could allow so much time to pass. What if this child had brought a weapon to school the following morning? This is a likely violation of Virginia Law 22.1-279.3:1, which requires immediate reporting of a threat made against a school or its personnel.
A copy of the Sheriff's report can be provided to those who wish to view it. Please email the Freedom Press at Fpmedia62@gmail.com to acquire a copy.
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