An Ansonia High School student was reported to police and federal law enforcement in October after allegedly pledging support to ISIS during the school’s pledge of allegiance.
The incident came to light this month during a Board of Education meeting at which the student’s parent denied the allegation and complained that the student had been separated from his classmates.
Superintendent Carol Merlone declined to comment on the matter Jan. 14, referring a reporter to the school district’s lawyer, who wouldn’t say much other than school officials referred the child to law enforcement “out of an abundance of caution.”
In the meantime, the student has had no run-ins with the law. There is no threat, officials said.
Mayor David Cassetti said there is “absolutely no danger” to the school community.
“Anything like that is alarming, so it needed to be brought to the attention of homeland security, that’s all that was about,” Cassetti said. “It was just following the proper protocol.”
The parent of the student declined to talk to the Valley Indy.
Police Called
Ansonia Police Lt. Andrew Cota said the incident happened in October, but did not have the precise date.
“When the class stood up to say the Pledge of Allegiance, a kid stood up, and I’m not exactly sure what he said, but he (pledged) his allegiance, or something along those lines, to ISIS,” Cota said.
School officials reported it to the school resource officer, who wrote a report on the incident.
Police informed the Department of Homeland Security, Cota said.
“Anything like that, you never know,” Cota said. “So we called homeland security and they said, ‘Sure, send us the report and we’ll look into it.’ That was the last we saw of it. We aren’t doing anything with it.”
The feds haven’t reached out to Ansonia police since, he said.
“What they’re doing with it, I could not tell you,” Cota said. “They have not contacted us, that I’m aware of, to do any follow-up.”
He said police reached out to the feds more out of precaution than anything else.
“It’s where things are these days,” Cota said. “We take into account they are kids and kids sometimes say stupid things. But also, the way things are in the world, we have to make a decision about making somebody aware. We did that.”
Neither the U.S. Attorney’s Office nor the Connecticut chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union returned inquiries for comment.
‘Abundance Of Caution’
Superintendent Merlone said the student’s right to privacy prevented her from commenting.
“I can’t speak to that because of confidentiality with regard to students,” she said. “Everything is being turned over to our attorney. He’s handling this. No one at the school level can speak about this.”
The school district’s lawyer, Floyd Dugas, also declined to comment on the specifics of the allegation, citing the federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Act.
“The only thing I think we can say is that out of an abundance of caution, it was reported to the appropriate authorities,” Dugas said. “Because it’s a child, a student, we really can’t comment any further than that.”
At a school board meeting, the parent of the student complained that her child, since the incident, is going to school at an annex of the Board of Education offices on Grove Street.
Dugas confirmed the student has been separated from classmates, but said the October incident was not the reason why.
But he said the real reason can’t be divulged.
“My understanding is that he is (being taught at the Board of Education annex), but it has nothing to do with this incident,” he said. “I can’t comment why. It’s protected information.”
