Parents raise concerns about repeated disruptions at Indiana County elementary school

Parents and concerned community members in Indiana, Pennsylvania, are worried about issues at East Pike Elementary School.

Folks like Katie Haberl-Thomas, an East Pike parent and local attorney, said she was dismayed to hear from her son that incidents like fights, kids pulling the fire alarm, and students having to duck and cover were happening in his classroom with regularity.

She asked to meet with the school's principal and her son's teacher.

"During that meeting on Sept. 25," said Haberl-Thomas, "I found out that there had been 107 disruptions in my son's instructional time, that there had been 30 level 3 calls for help to just his first-grade classroom and that there had been nine full room evacuations in just his classroom and that was in 19 days of school."

Haberl-Thomas said she was shocked by what she heard, and had she not started asking questions, she would not have known, because she says the school and the district weren't communicating about it.

Krista Sevajian, a former elementary school principal in the district and current school district parent, says she blames district Superintendent Robert Heinrich Jr. for not knowing the district, suppressing information and not disciplining children.

"Back when I was working there, if students did things like this, they had a consequence, an immediate one," said Sevajian. "I know retired high school principals that are watching this case right now, and they have said, you know, what happens when they are not handled at the elementary level and they don't know what the consequences are? They will soon come to school learning that they can bring guns to school in high school."

The six-page response from Superintendent Heinrich can be found below.