RCSD who alerted school to gun hasn’t been back because of threats

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – A student who did the right thing when she told a school counselor there was a gun in her school hasn’t been back to school because of threats made against her.

As a result of the bravery of this student and her classmates, the school and police found the loaded gun and arrested two 13-year-old boys.

But this also an example of why people can be afraid to report what they know and witness.

It happened just after Thanksgiving at Dr. Alice Holloway School in Corn Hill.

The school says students somehow got the gun through security. Thursday, the student’s father and Clay Harris, founder of United and Healing Through Hope in Monroe County, said the students who saw something and said something need to be commended.

The father says he’s kept his daughter home for her safety.

“She was bullied for telling,” father Daniel Greathouse said. “And she received threats.”

Brean: “That’s probably why people keep their mouth shut.”
Greathouse: “Yes. Yes. That’s definitely why people keep their mouth shut. But she was probably scared. If I was that age and I saw a gun I’d be scared too and I’m going to say something.”
Brean: “The reality is people do say something it can put themselves in danger.”
Clay Harris, United and Healing Through Hope in Monroe County: “Well, let me say this to you. I ain’t scared.”
Brean: “We’re talking about a child here.”
Harris: “I’m talking about everybody in this community. Young or old. But I’m really talking about the adults. We have to accept the example.”

The city school district is working with Daniel Greathouse to find a new school for his daughter. The district told me if a student reports something to a teacher, principal, or counselor, their identity is kept confidential.

Clay Harris prodded local colleges to give scholarships to the students who did the right thing in reporting the gun. The RCSD superintendent is going to award them at the school board meeting next week.