By: Sabrina Ahmed
sahmed@klkntv.com
One boy brought his insulin needles to school and passed them out to friends, but what seemed harmless to those boys, scared those who saw it happen.
Wednesday during their lunch time, the four boys started poking each other with empty insulin needles. They thought they were harmlessly messing around,.
"From a witness point of view, it looked like this may be some bullying activity," said Southeast Principal, Brent Toalson. The kids who saw it happen told their parents that evening.
The Southeast Lincoln High Principal Toalson, got a call from a concerned parent who asked if these needles were being used to bully other kids and expressed health concerns about passing needles around.
Toalson called the health department. He looked into the issue, talked to the boys involved, and sent a letter to parents saying, "At this time, we do not have any information that would lead us to believe that this behavior was bullying or harassment."
He also says, as of now, there isn't a health concern with this incident. "Even though they thought this was horse play and funny, and maybe not being very mature, but this definitely was more serious," said Toalson.
While this may not have been a case of bullying, he says bullies do exist. He says the school is taking steps to reduce this behavior every day. They have more of a teacher presence in the halls and they have boxes for students to report incidents confidentially.
The school also has a student task force to take the problem head on. "We want to send a message to kids. We are care about you, we want this to be safe, and we expect you to behave in a way that's consistent with those standards," said Toalson.
The four boys involved in the needle issue have been punished. Authorities say, typically, students in trouble for assaulting other students are suspended for up to five days.
