Hundreds of angry, vitriolic emails, calls and tweets have inundated Rockville High School in Maryland railing against current school politics, calling for the superintendent to be removed, and even threatening to “burn down the school” or come in and “shoot the illegals” after a 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped by two classmates who are undocumented immigrants March 16, reports the Washington Post.
The suburban school system has not seen a let-up in the constant stream of incoming anger and frustration from parents and others in the community since the alleged rape occurred. The outrage has since spread, becoming a hot-button subject of debate across the Internet and fueling the flames of an already contentious ongoing immigration debate. It even came up during a White House press conference, when White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer condemned the alleged rape as “shocking, disturbing, horrific and whatever words someone can think of.” He also incorrectly characterized the victim as a legal immigrant to the United States, but the Washington Post says that “Montgomery County officials said she had no immigrant status of any kind.”
As the debate continues on, Rockville High School officials maintain that the high school admits any and all children, “regardless of their status.” This isn’t just a precedent in Rockville; it’s a precedent set by the Supreme Court that applies to all schools in the United States. County Superintendent Jack Smith stated, “We are a public school system and we serve all of our students when they come to us.”
Details of the incident are limited at this point, and the school can’t go much further than voicing their shock and regret. Police are still actively investigating the situation and giving out details might compromise the case or otherwise “jeopardize prosecution.” School officials say details concerning how this could have happened will also become more available as the “judicial process unfolds.”
The majority of concerns not aimed at the immigration status of the two alleged perpetrators center on how something like this could have possibly happened early on in the school day, in a school with 1,450 students, five security staff members. . . a sworn school resource officer who is on the county police force and 105 surveillance cameras on campus.” The incident also did not occur during passing periods, but rather during class time.
The school plans to make safety concerns and improvements its number one priority for the foreseeable future.