Last night, we were at the Chippewa Falls School Board of Education meeting in support of parents airing their grievances regarding a manifesto that was withheld from the public. Subsequently, a parent revealed that there was a second would-be shooter who had a manifesto that was also withheld from the public last year.

In Spring 2023, a mom was notified by the assistant principal that her daughter was in a safe room and that she had to come to pick her up because she was on a “hit list”.

"My daughter was asked not to tell her friends about the situation. I was told not to tell other parents [in order] to not 'cause chaos.’” Emily Gumbert said. "My daughter was in the marching band and color guard and the happiest and bubbliest kid. And now she cannot even leave the house because she is so scared. She got rid of her cell phone, she got rid of her social media. She is so scared because she is now 'that kid.'"

Gumbert testified during the public comment period about last year's incident so that parents know that what happened this year was not a one-off and that there was a hit list of three kids at that school. She also tried to name administrators but the Board demanded she not hold any individual specifically accountable.

Officers also told Gumbert to “make sure her daughter was in a safe place” because the would-be shooter threatened to steal a firearm.

"These parents had no idea of that. I was told that it was going to be addressed. Not even a week and a half later - if you look at your emails - the swatting incident was after my daughter's incident. And they decided to let everyone know about the attempted swatting but didn't let the parents know about the manifesto in spring of 2023,” Gumbert said.

Gumbert’s daughter is a Freshman in high school but can no longer attend school because the suspected student responsible for the manifesto was allowed to come back to the school. Gumbert was not even notified by school administrators and her daughter had to tell her the student was back on campus.

"She called me crying because this child was allowed to come back to school," Gumbert said. “My daughter cannot even attend school because she is scared.”

Gumbert's daughter was put on the hit list after a student attempted to recruit classmates to assist in recreating the Columbine shooting. The students who refused to be involved with this were subsequently put on the hit list.

The reason the student was allowed to return to the district is that no high school administrators were informed about the incident by the middle school.

"This is not just about Chippewa Falls. There are a lot of stories that come to us through you. It comes down to what we can verify," Crowder said. "You are the ones out there taking these brave steps. That woman is not in a position of power. You don't think Emily is going to deal with some challenges in that district? She already has."

Do you think the decisions made by the Board and school officials made those students any safer?