A fifth grader who was initially suspended for drafting a "kill list" made up of classmates names will not return to his elementary school for the remainder of the school year, the district said Wednesday.
After parents in Riverside County found out about the list, many expressed concerns for students' safety and dozens of parents kept their children home from school Wednesday.
Lake Mathews Elementary Principal Pamela Williams wrote a letter to parents Monday saying school officials first learned of the list last Thursday and contacted law enforcement. She says officials investigated and concluded no one at the school was in danger.
"These types of behaviors are ALWAYS taken seriously by RUSD and therefore we immediately began an investigation, convened our site threat assessment team and notified law enforcement," Williams wrote in the statement. "As a result of this comprehensive process, it was determined that there was, and is, no danger to any of Lake Mathews' students."
A 5th grader is suspended for two days after "Kill List" is found at elem school in Riverside. School dist. says there is no threat. @nbcla pic.twitter.com/wUo0ouNCIX
— Jonathan Gonzalez (@JonathanNBCLA) January 17, 2017
The Riverside County Sheriff's Office spoke with the child, the child's parents and school officials and determined the child did not have means or access to guns or "weapons of that nature," said Sgt. Chris Durham of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.
"We believe that the school is safe, and there's a lot that goes into saying that a school is safe," said Justin Grayson of the Riverside Unified School District. "We wouldn't want to, we would never say that a school is safe when we felt that it wasn't."
The school has about 900 students.
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The Riverside Unified School District confirmed to NBC4 the child's suspension would end Wednesday, but could not confirm when the child would return to school.
Some parents said suspending the boy from school for two days was insufficient and wanted him expelled. They sent a petition signed by 86 parents to the district's superintendent saying they won't send their children to school if the boy returns.
"I think that child shouldn’t go to that school anymore, maybe be put in, I don't know, some other kind of school that … can take care of somebody," said parent Melanie Reck.
Other parents were upset they found out about the incident on social media, because a letter was not sent from the school until Monday.
"I think the learning experience from this is to get information out sooner to parents to avoid all the hysteria," said Jennifer Stinnett, a parent of a kindergartner and a first grader at the school.
District officials tried to ease parents' worries at a school board meeting Tuesday night. Many parents attended the meeting to voice their concerns about a lack of information from the district, but most were concerned about whether or not the boy would return to the elementary school.
Lake Mathews Elementary school officials told NBC4 Tuesday the child had not been expelled and could come back to school, but noted the district was working with the child's parents to explore other schooling options. The school district said they have procedures in place to monitor the child, and will be giving the child extra attention and care moving forward.
The district says they are barred from talking about the student due to confidentiality laws, but Grayson released the following statement to NBC4 Wednesday morning.
"Right now district officials are at huddled at Lake Mathews Elementary working to determine the course of action for continuing student in question's education," Grayson wrote Wednesday. "Alternative educational opportunities are being discussed, but no final determination had been made yet."
Several parents told NBC4 that school officials said the child was not in school Wednesday morning.
Later on Wednesday, the Riverside Unified School District released a statement and noted they take a "safe schools guarantee" in the California Constitution "very seriously."
"For that reason, the District’s Child Welfare and Attendance Department has determined that the student recently accused of threatening communications will not be returning to Lake Mathews Elementary School for the remainder of the 2016-17 school year," read the statement from the district.
The statement did not mention the child's future schooling plans, or whether or not the child would attend another school in the district.
Jessica Rice and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
