Parents, staff outraged over serious incident at Frontier Regional School

DEERFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - An alleged serious incident involving multiple juveniles at Frontier Regional School in Deerfield. Now, parents and educators spoke up about what the school allegedly did not do in response and what changes they want to see.

Western Mass News has to make clear that we can not explain all of the details, due to the ages of those involved there is outrage and frustration from parents and educators who want Frontier Regional School to do better to keep students safe.

It was a very emotional Tuesday evening at Frontier Regional School. Parents and educators spoke directly to the school committee after an alleged very serious incident unfolded in early March.

While there is anger, sadness and frustration about the details, it is the school’s alleged response that has sparked outrage.

“I emailed a month ago their admin, and I asked what they were going to do for families and what they’re going to do for students, counseling,” explained Holly Johnson. “And the response was they would not be putting out a statement due to privacy issues and they would have counselors available. They don’t have enough counselors.”

According to those who made remarks and spoke directly to Western Mass News after the meeting, they said the administration did not take appropriate measures to keep the community informed that something had happened.

In addition, long-time educator Shawn Durrett, who is also a member of the Deerfield Inclusion Group, said victims affected by this alleged incident, as well as other students, have not had an easy time since the incident was reported.

“Rumors, gossip and talk is running rampant in the district, and it’s the role of educators and the administration to lead a response by trained and caring individuals who are adults,” said Durrett.

Lots of emotions were on display during the meeting.

In fact, after public comment had ended, the committee’s chair was close to shedding tears.

The alleged incident hit close to home for parent Lu Vincent, who had a similar experience during her high school years. She said more needs to be done to better address what is going on.

“This is a timeframe where our children should be uplifted and celebrated in every way, every sexuality, every gender and to have silence around any kind of assault or any kind of bullying, it is just simply promoting a kind of meanness that we don’t want to live with anymore,” expressed Vincent.

Others we spoke with agreed and said there are resources the school and the district should take into consideration.

“There was a great suggestion tonight to talk more about Title IX and the Title IX coordinator, what their responsibilities are, how students and families learn about that, where that information can be found in the website,” added Durrett.

“Bring in professional crisis counselors, help students deal with this, make better policy, reach out to students, hold assemblies,” said Johnson. “They’ve held assemblies in the past for other things. Cyberbullying was last year and nothing for this incident, which is crazy.”

Laurie Loisel with the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office in a statement to Western Mass News said, “We can’t comment on ongoing investigations to either confirm or deny these investigations. Juvenile court records are not public. It’s a separate thing.”

Because this alleged incident involves juveniles, Frontier Regional School and Deerfield Police told us they are unable to speak about this in accordance with Massachusetts law.