Hinesburg Community School students found a loaded pistol and, later in the morning, crack cocaine while outside on school grounds on Friday. Police believe that a suspect fleeing a crash the previous night may have dumped the contraband on campus before he was arrested.
The shocking situation has shaken Hinesburg parents, many of whom are unhappy with how school administrators dealt with the situation and communicated about what had happened. In the days after the incident, the school and police have released conflicting information that has raised even more questions for parents who are having difficulty separating fact from fiction amid widespread rumors.
It's been particularly frustrating for Kevin Gibbons and Jackie Loomis, the parents of a 7-year-old boy who was among the group that found the .22-caliber handgun. They said the school never notified them directly of what had happened, beyond several vague emails that went out on Friday afternoon, hours after the kids found the gun and drugs.
It “was really hard to grapple with because all we had was this passive-voice, vague email and then we had [our son’s] information and then we were getting text messages from our friends,” Loomis said. “It was like, ‘What are we supposed to believe, and why had no one given us any sort of heads-up?'”
The chain of events appears to have begun around 10:45 p.m. on Thursday, when police started to chase a speeding SUV that then crashed into a tree at the intersection of Route 116 and Silver Street, not far from Hinesburg Community School. The alleged driver of the vehicle, 26-year-old Jermaine Rushing, fled on foot and was apprehended 15 minutes later near some homes, according to the police department.
"The officers had no reason to believe that the suspect had a gun or went anywhere near the community school as the crash did not happen on school property and the suspect was not found on school property," police said in a statement.
The next day around 10 a.m., Loomis and Gibbons said their son, a second grader, told them that he was with his friends, looking for signs of the Wendigo — a mythical creature from a book the class was reading — when they spotted the gun near the playground.
They wondered if it was real, their son told them, and he went to alert an adult. Meanwhile, another student picked up the gun and brought it to a teacher. Later, their son said, a guidance counselor visited the class to talk to them about what had happened.
click to enlarge - Sasha Goldstein ©️ Seven Days
- Hinesburg Community School's playground
According to the school district, the teacher brought the weapon to the coprincipals, who contacted the police. Upon arriving, the school district said, officers told school staff about the previous night's car chase, canvassed the school’s playground and fields, and “deemed the area and the school were secure and safe” and that there was “no immediate threat.”
But on Monday, Hinesburg police posted an account of its response that added new and contradicting details. The police did not do a full search of the school’s outdoor area, Chief Anthony Cambridge wrote, because, as one of his officers said, a school administrator "wouldn't let us look" around an outdoor classroom where kindergartners were learning because it might “disturb or scare” them.
At 11:20 a.m. on Friday, according to the police account, an officer took a second call from one of the school's coprincipals, who said several baggies had been found by a student in the outdoor classroom. The police returned to the school, and, at that point, Chief Cambridge advised the principal to bring all the students inside the building. The
baggies contained 35.3 grams of crack cocaine.
The police department is continuing to investigate both the car chase and the school incident “in an effort to prove they are connected,” Cambridge wrote. So far, the suspect faces charges of excessive speed, negligent operation and leaving the scene of an accident.
Cambridge did not respond to several requests for further comment.
On Tuesday morning, a Champlain Valley School District spokesperson declined to respond to the inconsistencies between the police and school district accounts, saying the district's outline of events was "accurate."
Gibbons and Loomis, the parents of the second grader who found the gun, said in an interview on Monday evening that they were upset by how the school shared news of the situation. Multiple Friday afternoon emails to families about the incident didn't mention that students had been the ones to find the gun and contraband.
Furthermore, Gibbons said, parents received a weekly update email from their son’s teacher that afternoon with no mention of the morning incident, which made him feel like it was being swept under the rug. Loomis and Gibbons said they had to rely on their 7-year-old to get details about what actually happened.
Loomis, who works as an educator at a local preschool that also includes an afterschool program for Hinesburg elementary students, said she was disappointed that the school didn’t notify program staff about what had happened.
“We would have really appreciated a heads-up from the school,” Loomis said. “If something big like this happens that is going to affect your community partners, then can they also be in the loop?”
Gibbons and Loomis said they emailed the school district on Friday and Saturday expressing frustration about how the situation was handled. Because their son was directly involved in finding the gun, they said, they believe an administrator should have called them during school on Friday.
“If somebody else’s child finds contraband or a weapon, I don’t need a personal phone call. But it’s our kid, so it’s personal for us,” Gibbons said. “And I think any other parent would feel the same in our shoes.”
On Sunday, the school’s coprincipals sent an email to all parents with a more detailed account of Friday’s events. The email clarified that, in both the case of the gun and the drugs, students were the ones to make the discovery. The letter also listed actions the school was taking to support students, including conversations with the school counselor and principal and, in the case of the student who found the drugs, a call to their family during the school day and a check-in with the school nurse.
A district spokesperson clarified on Monday that the parents of the child who picked up the gun were notified immediately about what had happened, and they came to school on Friday to meet with a counselor and principal.
But Gibbons and Loomis said it wasn't until Monday afternoon that they received a personal email from school administrators saying they were sorry they had not reached out earlier because they were busy dealing with the situation. The email also said the school district would be reviewing its procedures. Gibbons and Loomis said they have not yet received a response from the district superintendent, Rene Sanchez.
Both Gibbons and Loomis said what matters most to them now is that the district reflects on how it handled the situation and explains to parents how it will improve its procedures in the future.
“I’d like them to be transparent with their review process and what they’re changing,” Loomis said. “I would like … the school to be like, 'Hey, here’s what happened. Here’s what we’ve learned didn’t work well, and here’s what we’re planning to change’ — heaven forbid there’s a next time.”