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Newport News resident urges council to check school notification and safety after claimed assault at Passage Middle School
Summary
A resident told the City Council during citizen comments that a student stabbed a teacher with a pencil and urged officials to confirm whether law enforcement and school officials followed required reporting procedures.
During the council’s citizen-comments period, resident John Bloom urged the City Council to investigate school safety and whether law enforcement had been notified after what Bloom described as an assault at Passage Middle School.
Bloom told the council he learned, while working as a math teacher at Passage Middle School, about “a child that stabbed a teacher with a pencil.” He said parents expressed concern for their children’s safety and that school officials did not notify families. “I violated the Newport News policy and procedures manual, but didn’t violate my conscience,” Bloom said, describing his decision to inform parents directly.
Bloom said the matter involved juvenile detention procedures, federal and state reporting requirements and the Newport News policy and procedures manual; he asked the council to “check that out and try to move that child into enterprise for the safety of the rest of the students and parents.” He also referenced January 2023 in the same line of remarks when speaking about a separate incident described as a shooting, but the sequence and details were not clarified on the record.
The council did not take action during the meeting on Bloom’s remarks; the transcript records his comments under citizen comments and no staff response or direction to investigate was recorded on the agenda. Bloom named Passage Middle School and said one parent moved a child to Ella Fitzgerald (as an alternate school); he also named a principal, Chris Smith, in describing conversations with school staff. Bloom asserted that a signed written declaration requiring school officials to inform law enforcement when an assault occurs was on file with the city clerk; the transcript does not include confirmation from school officials or law enforcement.
The council continued with other business after the citizen comment period. Bloom’s statements were presented as his account and requests; they were not verified by the council or by school or law-enforcement representatives in the meeting record.
