Following gun incident, Cudahy parents say district not doing enough to stop bullying

CUDAHY, Wis. (CBS 58) -- About 30 parents demonstrated outside of Cudahy Middle School Monday night, before the school board's first meeting since a 12-year-old student was arrested for bringing a gun to school.

Those protesting raised two main concerns. First, they accused district leaders of not being forthcoming with details about the April 30 incident at Lincoln Elementary. They also maintained the incident might not have happened had the district done more to crack down on bullying.

The parents rallied around Savanna Baldwin, who said her son, Luis, was the intendent target of the unidentified student who brought the gun to Lincoln Elementary.

"He was targeted by a few students, and thank God that didn't go through," she said. "My son had learned from another student there were plans- about four or five students were planning on jumping him after school- and then, one of the students were planning on bringing a gun, and that gun was brought."

Baldwin said her son has been getting bullied over his Mexican ancestry, and school leaders were insufficiently addressing it.

"They had tacos and salsa for lunch," Baldwin said, recalling a recent incident. "And one of the kids had come up to him and poured the salsa on him and called him a Mexican border hopper, and nothing was done."

District officials have credited the quick communication of a student who alerted a teacher about the gun, who relayed the information to the principal, Matt Orlowski, who happened to be near the student's unattended backpack. Orlowski found the gun inside the backpack.

Jason Kuechenmeister, another parent at the protest, said the district has yet to offer enough details about what students saw during the gun incident.

Parents have also expressed frustration over how they found out about the incident. Some have said they learned through a police press released before getting any direct communication from the district.

"We've gotten five letters so far; all of them say the exact same thing, which is nothing short of nothing," Kuechenmeister said. "It's very dry and very vague communication on what happened, and what did our kiddos actually see in the school."

The School District of Cudahy released a statement Monday addressing the gun incident, again crediting a student for reporting the gun and Orlowski for acting quickly. The district said it was now reviewing its safety protocols following the incident.

"We treated this matter with the utmost seriousness, following all of our safety protocols and practices per our District safety manual," the statement read. "And fully cooperated with law enforcement as they investigated the situation."

The statement did not address concerns about bullying. During Monday's meeting, Superintendent Michelle Garven said the district couldn't offer many more details about the gun incident because investigations both Cudahy police and the district are conducting are still active.

Kuechenmeister said he was skeptical those investigations will produce substantial change.

"I'd love to say I'm optimistic," he said. "Unfortunately, we've seen that closed door approach with the schools for several years now. So, one would hope the change will come, and if it doesn't come for Cudahy, hopefully we learn at the next district that our kids are number one."