Denton ISD stabbing: Parents concerned over lack of district communication

Denton ISD stabbing communication concerns parents

Some parents of students at Billy Ryan High School are upset that they learned a student was stabbed from social media instead of hearing it directly from Denton ISD.

DENTON, Texas - Some parents of students at Billy Ryan High School are upset that they learned a student was stabbed from social media instead of hearing it directly from Denton ISD.

Now they are calling for more transparency from the district. 

Denton ISD stabbing

Billy Ryan High School

What we know:

Cristal Mendoza's daughter is a sophomore at the school.

On Friday, Mendoza received an email from Denton ISD, saying EMS was called for a student in need of medical attention. But it didn't share what caused the issue. 

Denton ISD email

Denton police say Friday morning, a student stabbed another student.

The victim was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The suspect student was taken to the juvenile detention center for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

What they're saying:

"To me, that made it sound like, oh, a kid had an asthma attack, you know, I’m glad they got taken care of," said Mendoza.

Then she found out on social media it was much more serious.

"My concern was the lack of transparency from Denton ISD and Ryan High school in regard to what happened." 

Mendoza isn't alone in her concern.

Josie Gonzalez's son is a freshman at Ryan High School. She was also upset when she found out what really happened.

"In my mind, as a parent, I think I really would have liked them to say, hey, this is what happened, this is how we are handling it, and this is how we plan to handle it in the future," said Gonzalez. 

Billy Ryan High School

Both moms emailed the superintendent expressing their concerns. 

They also told FOX 4 that their students were left in the dark, too. 

"So he had only heard ‘ambulance,’ there was no notifications from the teachers. I get that maybe they were trying to keep the situation under control in a small area, but I think it’s important that the students know what’s happening as well." 

The moms wished their students would have been able to tell them something had happened, but a new state law that went into effect this school year bans cellphones inside the classrooms.

"If you want to take my children’s phone, I want full transparency. Period," said Gonzalez. 

And Mendoza plans to take her concerns to the school board.

"My biggest question to the school board is, what are you going to do to improve transparency with parents?" 

What we don't know:

FOX 4 reached out several times to Denton ISD asking for a statement about the incident, but they have yet to reply. 

The identities of the students involved will not be released due to their age.