Just out of curiosity did the parent tell school administration only because the announcement states the rumor is about next Friday not tommorrow .hopefully this is just a bad rumor. But is one the school board should take VERY seriously

I am so sad to hear this kind of stuff going on, especially in the schools. We have such great kids at both high schools. I hope they get help before they decide to do something permanent for a temporary situation. Bullying should not happen, but unfortunately it probably always will. I hope all y'all stay safe. And God bless you.

Maybe the parents should tell their unstable children that the world will not come to an end on the 21st. It doesn't help when the media doesn't discount the fact that it will not happen either

District 308 is acting in a very proactive manner. This type of transparency needs to be the standard for the District. It is unfortunate that our community has to experience this type of situation; however, we are a microcosm of our society. Parents, talk to your children!

THE STUDENTS PERSPECTIVE; MUST READ!!
Im a student at oswego high school. The rumors are not directly based on the fact that it's suppose to be the day the mayan calender ends. Its has to do with the fact that one ignorant student was being bullied, and had SERIOUS thoughts of shooting students and/or staff at Oswego High School. From my understandings the student was plotting to take out his anger on the 21stfact because if he were to get caught, and the earth does end, then that person wouldn't have to worry about being caught.

I am a student at east and it has nothing to do with the Mayan calander. This has to do with 98% of the school bullying the kid. I mean they PEED on his stuff in gym class, they constantly torment the hell out of this kid. I'm not going to lie, I dislike the kid and think he can be really annoying. He accidentally hit someone in the face and people started labeling him as a female abuser. He doesn't deserve what he gets but did you ever thing that your "stable" kids are the reason he's "unstable"?

The rumor also includes OEHS for a shooting tomorrow.

More crap from the MSM to throw the off balanced into a fit., if there aren't enough problems going on.
The MSM love chaos and for the little people to run around with there hair on fire.
The same happened before Y2K. Guess what, still here.
Smarten up, get off the MSM, there's no longer credible.

I don't understand this bullying issue. The kids are in class most of the day. How are kids getting bullied when they should be in class and under the supervision of a teacher?

Before school, after school, lunch, in the halls, in gym class. It goes on after school hours too. Seriously, it's ridiculous. I wish someone would help this poor kid. There is NO REASON for anyone peeing on anybody else's stuff. How degrading. Where is the zero tolerance for bullying.

Why is District 308 allowing this to happen?

Since it is evident that we can't depend on parents to model acceptable behavior, maybe a law against bullying, like hazing, would put an end to this deplorable behavior. It would be extremely difficult to get into college with a criminal record as part of your high school transcript.

That poor student and any others that are going through this. I'd like to know if anything at all is being done about this? Most of the time if the kid comes forward he's tormented even more.
I'm hearing the same from my daughter and it frightens the hell out of me. This could very well happen and I can only pray that it doesn't. Maybe it's time for the dreaded metal detectors. I remember when this subject was brought up a few years ago and shot down because parents felt it would hurt their property values. Lets pray we don't have a story to report on come Saturday.

The best way to prevent bullying is for the adults/teachers to teach love and respect. Bring the children together and get them to start opening up as groups to talk about their own experiences with bullying. All children deserve to feel loved regardless if they are different from the crowd. If the school can come together as a whole and work towards a common goal we can be better equipped to realize when a child is acting out and needs some extra love. A police car or security guard creates uneasy feelings and sends the wrong message. We all know or have known someone who has been outcasted even if it is by their own admission but instead of isolating them further they need to feel loved and cared for. They need someone to reach out to them even though they may act like they dont want it. We need to get over ourselves and help eachother out.

I am so tired of this culture in each others face with no respect. Facebook, texting and no lessons on how to treat others. This poor student has been torchered with idiots for longer than is noted I found oswego east has their head in the sand. See what they want to see. Hear what they want to hear. If your son or daughter is a bully you should be ashamed of yourself and post your picture and community service location on the news for all of us to hear and see.
To the parent of this student and I hope you know what is going on, this community appreciates you being here. If there is anything we can do lets us know. Ignorance of others does not define who your student is.

I have a daughter that was excluded and laughed at because she is not and was not "cool" and deceitful. Families with bullies know who they are. They do not care and many times wish not to change. The school knows who these people are. get busy! do some hard stuff.....

Do we know who this student is?

I wrote a book to address issues like this for teens. There needs to be compassion and education for those who are bullied and the ones doing it. Both sides experience pain in some manner (you do not hurt others unless you are being hurt yourself). Kids need to understand this along with a generous dose of self-love; when you love and accept your own self you will do it with others. So much opportunity for growth here. I am pryaing parents and teens reading or hearing about this situation alow it to lift them up by helping them understand more about these issues, and opening their hearts to compassion instead of judgment.

It saddens me when I hear about these things happening to the kids at school. Parents need to put down their phone, get off of the computer, shut off the tv and invest in your child's life. Life is too precious and short. Before you know it your child is grown and out of the house. You can never take those years back. When something tragic does happen, you can't second guess and wonder if the signs were there, but you were too busy to notice the pain that your child was in and did nothing to help him/her. It is appalling to know that this is going on. My son was bullied and the school did nothing about it. I do not think highly of this district and it shows in the newspaper not just with grades and lack their of, but with this issue.

As a student i have a couple things to say. I know this kid and yes he is not the nicest guy in the world, but seriously the things that some of my classmates do to him is beyond belief. If you have read the other comments yes its true one student, who shall remain nameless, did urinate on his belongings. I wouldn't expect that at any school in the world let alone a school that promotes so much of its "Hate Free" environment.

On that note, there is a even bigger underlying issue here. The urinating student is still walking our halls. I hope that you go back and read the schools statement again. WHAT THE HECK DOES THE MAYAN CALENDAR HAVE TO DO WITH THIS!! My school is supposed to have been making zero tolerance policies on bullying and what not but they obviously messed up bad on this one. They made this kid, who believe me the school knew was being bullied, go on with his life "promising" they were doing everything they can to help him. In addition they didn't even take steps to properly punish a student when he URINATES on ones clothes.

What is the worse part in this is that my school has the nerve in something like this to blame it on some doomsday prophecy. They should own up to what they allowed to occur themselves. Its a shame and a little unsettling as a student to know that not only does my school attempt to find a scapegoat, but that they show little remorse in wanting to help this challenged student.

I'm a student at OE, all I'm saying is that some of the same people who promote Hate Free at OE, are the same ones that are bullying other kids. I just don't appreciate the fact that they are promoting hate free yet they are cyberbullies.... It's so hypocritical. I'm so annoyed with all of them. They are the reason why we have so many problems. They should take they're own advice.

I know that sometimes people don't like to get involved in other people's business, but if everyone knew this kid was being bullied so bad, why did NOBODY stand up for him. Staff AND students.

I've heard two different versions of this story...one said tomorrow, another said next FRiday. All of it was coming from OHS.

I hope that the administration is reading what is being written in these comments by "students at OEHS". It's disheartening to read that they believe the issues with this bullied student aren't being taking seriously. I know that no one except those intimately/directly involved know all the facts or what is going on, but I have heard from others that those bullied remain bullied and those that bully don't get the harsh punishment we all think they should in District 308. Time for Change and a proactive attitude not a reactive attitude, Mr. Superintendant.

This is truly a sad situation. I feel for the child who has been bullied, but also for the children that have been bullying him. There is no reason for it to have gone as far as it has. Communication is paramount. Reading the previous posts, I find it hard to believe that 98% of a population can dislike a kid so much as to drive him to such horrible thoughts and threats. I also must question, was there no change in behavior on the home front? Being such a well known and ongoing issue (it seems), would this not have been brought to his parents attention at some point? Also, other students who seem to know exactly what is going on... does no one have the strength or backbone to talk to their parents or teachers about what they might feel is wrong behavior? I realize high school is complicated and these kids are dealing with a great deal of changes and issues, but when it comes down to it, I would hope the majority would know right behavior from wrong (taught in kindergarten isn't it?)

Overall, high school is just a small stepping stone in regards to the rest of your life. Unfortunately, kids don't seem to realize that in 2, 5,10, years after high school, it will be a distant memory. There is just so much more to life than high school, but the kids in the moment don't seem to realize that, and that is where the parents are key.

Thank God my children made it thru this school district. Now they are on to further indoctrination in a college with student loans. Got to take the gamble, I suppose. In order to advance you must go to college. So we are led to believe. Education = big business. They are not looking out for your children. Just think about that before you flame this comment.

If a kid decides to bring a gun to school and shoot the place up there is not much the police or anyone can do to prevent it. Short of searching every students bag you just have to hope that cooler heads prevail. By sending out a message and scaring everyone all you do is give this person motivation and publicity. A person who is going to shoot people does it for attention. Stop giving this person attention, everyone is so soft these days.

Martin I've just heard an entire different story coming from OHS.

The day is next Friday and it has to do with a gang at OHS that is going to take out kids they don't like and their focus is on an athletic team at school. The coach of the team has informed all the players to stay home next Friday.

I'm really not sure what to believe, I would hope this is not some sick joke someone came up with. Like anything else we need to proceed with caution as this is hear say yet we don't need an incident. At this point I have no clue what is fact or fiction.

I do know that many of my neighbors are keeping their kids home from school that day. What a way to start Christmas vacation.

If someone urinated on this kid's belongings then the police should have been called. How does that sort of thing happen without the school getting involved and providing him with protection? And how come this kid's parents don't get involved by interacting with the school district? There appears to be plenty of kids who are familiar with what's been happening. Get the police and court system involved and start arresting people.

Just put security cameras in the schools, especially in the hallways and you'll have all the evidence you need to clean up the trash at this school. Haven't they had cameras in the busses for years? One of these days some kid will get bullied who has a real dad at home who will take care of the situation like it should be taken care of.

I am a student of OHS and i was baffled that this could happen.Someone urinates on a student. This is wrong, doesnt matter who this person is, if a threat is going to happen you should report it no matter the type the person. This is what push this kid to the edge...look at columbine. DO you want something like that to repeat another american shooting. Its crap like this that cause people to act the way they are not them. But if it is a person like that its better to do something before its too late

I feel like the Districts "safety precautions" would never me enough to stop a school shooting. Unless the school is patting kids down & checking their bags at the entrance, none of these kids will feel safe. I am genuinely scared for my life. My parents aren't letting me stay home like other kids, so I feel like I have to risk my life to go to school. & thatthe biggest problems. They're crazy people out there.

A very sad story. Bullying goes on in adult life as well. Read the front page of the ledger this week about what is going on in our Kendall country sheriff's department. Deeply troubling.

Last year, 319 students were shot in the CPS. 24 were fatal (Chicago Tribune, June 26, 2012).
Where is the outrage and media attention?

OK so you know who the student is and that his stuff was peed on---did you see where the Mom of a 2 yr. old was ticketed because child peed outside?? Why aren't they doing something about the kids doing the bullying plus remove the bullied child from the enviorment that is causing his hostile thoughts against the school?

Ok. I see all of your points and am very sympathetic to the situation involving the bullied child. My child attends Thompson. I came to this thread to see if other parents planned on keeping their children home that day. What's the general consensus??

I just want to say that the comments about the kid who urinated needs to go to jail are unreasonable. Those types of punishments dont work. The kid who did that needs to clean the school bathrooms everyday for 6 months. He would then experience humiliation and would probably never do something like that again. We need to stop thinking that the police will solve everything because they cant! The police should only be used in emergency situations. We are letting the police and government control our lives and its not working!

Deb63...you are on the right track...when the PARENTS of the bully are made to take responsibility...THEN they will start do something about their bully's behavior...TICKET THE PARENTS, Drag them to court..and maybe it will get better!

I love how the blame goes to the school district, the administration, the bullies, the parents etc the only person I haven't seen someone blame is the student who is threatening to kill people. I'm sorry he was bullied but having graduated 3 years ago I now realize how absolutely dumb and immature high school was. If a high school student goes to school and pulls the trigger of a gun and kills people there is only one person to blame. Stop feeling sorry for everyone all the time, it's ruining this generation.

Its time for the Oswego Administration to send out another update to the parents about the situation. I have heard that the situation has been addressed with the people involved. If that is the case, why dont they tell us that? Why be so vague? We need another update.

Also, this should be a wake-up call to the district that their bullying policies are not working. They need to relook at their policy providing for a zero tolerance policy with strict punishment, including expulsion or removal to another school.

I don't think people should always put the blame on the at home parenting. I have a child in the junior high school's now and my child is very hesitant to say what goes on during the school day. They are very social and things do go on during the day that they just don't tell us about. All we can do is try to make them aware. I have also heard of accidental bumping in or knocking into in the hallways. I try to chalk that up to an accident of overcrowding. I'm glad the District 308 has made us aware of the threat but now I'm not that confident on letting my child go to school on the 21st.

I feel really bad for the kid at OEHS if that really happened but violence is not going to solve anything. I also blame social media and cell phones for a lot of the increased violent activity in the schools now. Ban the phones in the schools and parent's should try to monitor Facebook more if possible. Remember a time we didn't have cell phones...why do the kids need them in school?

I'm a junior at college and I'm actually impressed that the district is alerting students and their families to the situation. Four students at my school were attacked with knives this week, and four robberies happened in my parking lot, but the only email we got from the school was about returning your textbooks on time. District 308 could be doing a lot worse of a job, so good for them.

Having kids in this school district I can firmly state that not only through personal experience but also nightmare stories from good friends that teachers and administrators in 308 have absolutely no clue how to handle the bullying situation. It’s obviously not just an Oswego issue, but are there other parents out there like me that just don’t get how this can happen? When we go to open houses and conferences there are teachers standing outside of their classroom – practically every 15 feet there is one. Can’t they do this during passing periods? If they already do, do they A) not see it? B) Not have a clue how to address it? and/or C) Not care?

As of this morning, school officials say there is no credibility to the rumors, but security has been heightened. Read here for more details: http://oswego.patch.com/articles/police-on-patrol-in-district-308-schools-after-thursday-announcement

Just reported elementary school in Connecticut had a shooting

Dave, you have contradicted everything you said. If a "real dad" needs to take care of a bullying situtation, wouldnt that be bullying also? Re-evaluate your points.

Although I do not believe the Mayan Calendar scare, many people do, especially small children. Knowing of this "EVENT" for many, many years, you would think a school district would figure out a way to start HOLIDAY BREAK(p.c), I mean Christmas break, on Thursday Dec. 20. There are small children that are very scared of this day. How many other days do they get off from school every year? Think ahead school district, and use your heads!

To respond to Mike my daughter has witnessed first hand an incident in her midlle school last year where some students were allowed to use their cellphone in her gym class by the gym teacher. These particular students filmed their classmates and made racial and other remarks and posted the video on You Tube so it depends on who the individual teachers are because not all teachers in Oswego 308 are there so aware or they just do not use good judgement. From what I know the students involved in the You Tube incident basically got a slap on the hand and in my opinion the punishment was not what it should have been and the gym teacher is now in another Junior High school in Oswego 308. Kids learn what they live and some parents forgot how to parent or just don't care anymore and let their kids run around wild and crazy with no fear of getting in trouble at home. Oswego 308 talks a good game about no bullying in their schools but I don't think they follow thru when presented with a bullying situation and the students that do the bullying are aware of that.

Open your eyes everyone we live in a really messed up society. I can't believe what just happened in CN, 17 or more kids dead for no reason. Very sad times especially with the holidays. I guess we can't be too cautious when it comes to our kids lives :(

My bad I meant to say CT, and it's more than 17 people dead. So sad

i called the school yesterday afternoon when my son came home from oehs to inform them of what my son had heard from his classmates, just like it said to do per the phone called parents got yesterday. needless to say, i dont think the school was taking phone calls seriously because the principle's secretary started laughing when i was talking to her and she told me that it was just rumors and not to worry. i dont know what is so funny about the situation all. district 308 at its best AGAIN!!!

Interesting times we are living in, I think the schools need to go back to the ages where kids hang in gangs so if attacked you could have someone stand up with you. I think the schools should be more leniate and let the kids run out the door for lunch if they wish. Smoke outside or pot behind the back of the school etc. What the hell are they teaching that puts these kids on edge these days?? Tis the question?? There are so much subties in todays learning it's un canny. I would like to see not metal detectors, not more police in the school, This is not a prison system. We grew up in what was the hardest times during the post depression era of old country. The fact that get out of school alive is bizarre in this generation.
What's the vibe????

In the beginning of all this, I thought it might just be rumors & was going to send my child to school Friday(OHS) In light of the horrible tragedy in CT yesterday along with our kids school(OHS) being on the 5:00 & 10:00 news last night Oswego district is admitting there is a real threat at OHS, not just a rumor. There are staff & students that are being targeted. I don't know if this part of it is true, but I read there is even a hitlist. I'm going to share the following of what my son came home from OHS & told me he heard. I don't know if the following details are rumor or true, but if it is true.. God or whatever you believe in help our kids. My son said alot of the kids at school are saying there are up to 15 kids involved in this plot. a couple are in custody but they haven't identified or figured out all of the kids involved yet. I know we can't keep them sheltered anything can happen anywhere, anytime, but at this point It is my opinion that the district closes OHS this week so they can do their investigation and try to get these kids involved in custody. Alot of the kids are so scared to walk in those doors next week(I'm sure some staff are nervous as well) how are they going to concentrate on their work when they are constantly wondering if someone's going to whip out a gun in front of them and use it. Close the school and add a week at the end of summer break. They might as well, I know alot of kids are staying home regardless if they close or not.

Go do something worthwhile instead of sitting here posting about it. Go talk to your kids. Volunteer. Anything. Parents are the problem. Not the kids. Not the teachers. Not the administrators. Parents.

Martin...I attended two high schools...Lane Tech in Chicago from 1977 to 1979 and Garden City Senior High in Kansas from 1979 to 1981 two completely different schools both in size and student body. Schools were wide open, there was a 22 rifle range in the basement of Lane for the JROTC and the guns were kept on site. I don't recall there being any school shootings in Chicago in the 1970's. In Kansas, everyone had guns....again, no issue. Kids were bullied...but it was a face to face bully...much more difficult to be than hiding in the cyber world. We didn't have internet like it is today. We didn't have special programs about bullying either. We took care of our problems and moved forward. It was a different way of thinking. Maybe in our efforts to make everything as fair and equal as possible we've made a mistake. We created the illusion of a world that doesn't exist and when some kids find out...it effects them very badly and they don't have the tools to cope.

Thank you. My children attend a 308 Elementary School and I am sickened by the events taking place in our district at the HS level coupled with the massacre to 20 innocent children and 6 staff members in CT. My question to you is how can I be sure this is only isolated to OHS? I want ALL schools in District 308 safe and with armed police officers ALL next week. I know my children are only in elementary school but after knowing what is going on I believe I would rather "over-react" and keep my precious children home, then to send them to school with unknowns. I appreciate any input or insight.

It's Sunday afternoon..has there been any update from the District since Friday?