‘We deserve answers’: Bend parents press school leaders over safety, notification delays after shooting

BEND Ore. (KPTV) - Leaders of Bend-La Pine Schools and law enforcement gathered on Thursday night for an open discussion with the community.

The meeting comes three weeks after a shooting at Silver Rail Elementary took the lives of three students and a teacher. The gunman also shot and seriously injured another student and teacher.

“At Silver Rail, a father risked his life protecting others, including a teacher who threw a cell phone because that’s all she had in her hands on a gun-free school zone; that’s on you who voted that in,” a passionate remark from a parent in Bend.

At the meeting, experts from the National Mass Violence Center were in attendance to offer support to families who may be struggling.

“What happens with mass violence is it’s not only an individual trauma, but it’s also a collective trauma,” said Angie Moreland from the National Mass Violence Center.

During the meeting, the community was welcome to share concerns and ask questions. Some parents challenged school leaders to find the funding in their budget to protect students at school, including more school resource officers.

“What resources are we looking at that are above and beyond our district budget? Because the truth is you can’t put a price on a life. So, the budget doesn’t mean anything to me, and it doesn’t mean anything to those who lost their children,” said one concerned community member.

In response, Superintendent Dr. Steven Cook said Bend-La Pine Schools didn’t qualify for extra funding until recently.

“We have four to five applications out for federal funds that grants, for situations like this,” said Cook.

Another topic of discussion was emergency communication. One parent grilled the panel, sharing frustrations with the school board and district.

“Why wasn’t school safety a greater priority? And we deserve answers about the emergency response. Why did it take over an hour to notify parents? It was like an hour and 15 minutes; I got notified,” said the concerned community member.

When the parent said the poor communication was a major failure, Superintendent Cook said the district would continue to review every aspect of its response to this tragedy.

The district said any questions left unanswered from the meeting will be answered later, and they hope to continue to have these important conversations.