Rumors at Athens High School escalate, student suffering

by Casey Clapper
City Senior Writer

About one month ago, rampant rumors stemming from a letter posted at Athens High School induced panic in students and parents. Now one student says she is being treated unfairly.

On Sept. 24, an Athens high school student posted a letter labeled “Danger at School” throughout the high school. Later that week, students started rumors about hit lists, bomb threats and weapons, said Principal Mike Meek. 

“(The poster) was someone’s opinion,” he said. “There were no hit lists, no guns. It started with the posters and snowballed on. We were on top of it from the beginning. The student who posted the letter didn’t expect what happened to happen.”

Meek said it is not uncommon for students to spread rumors in this manner, but it usually happens at the end of the school year.

“Students found out you can’t joke about something like this,” he said. “Juvenile charges were brought upon some of the parties involved.”

The Athens County Sheriff’s Office was called in on Sept. 27 to investigate the letter and pranks by students, which perpetuated the rumors. Deputies responded and everything was as usual in the school, said Deputy Jim Childs.

The administration takes every rumor seriously, Meek said. The homecoming pep rally was canceled after the rumors escalated.

Although the rumors were untrue and the situation has been dealt with, one Athens high school student said she thinks the administration handled the situation poorly.

Nikki Decker, 18, said she was questioned about her involvement in the incidents of that week and was asked to leave the school after her name began circulating in the rumors.

“On Friday (Sept. 27) I heard there was a message written on the girl’s bathroom mirror saying that something was going to happen,” she said. “I got called down to the principal’s office and he said my name had come up and he searched me. He didn’t find anything. I don’t carry a backpack. He asked if I had a hit list and I said no. I wouldn’t even joke about something like that.”

Decker said rumors that she had a hit list continued, but she dispelled them.

“I joked around with my friends, we all thought it was absurd (that I was being accused), but I don’t honestly think I said anything to continue them,” she said.

But during a meeting on Saturday, Sept. 28, Meek and Decker discussed her options, she said.

“He (Meek) told me he stopped the Sheriff’s Office from arresting me and suggested I do an alternative program,” she said. “I was so afraid that I agreed, but after I calmed down, I think I got shafted.” 

Now, Decker is doing an alternative program through correspondence courses for five weeks, which are going to cost $260.

“This has definitely thrown my senior year completely out of whack,” she said. “I wanted to come back and get a portfolio together and go to an art college. I have art projects that aren’t finished and now I have to ask for permission to enter the school.”

Decker said she feels the rumors were a hate crime against her because of her unusual style and her openness about her sexuality. Decker is openly gay.

“At the time I was going to school in all black (clothing),” she said. “I’m not a fighter. I might come off that way, but I’m really a pacifist. I understand that the principal was doing his job to protect the school, but I don’t feel like he protected me.”

Meek and Athens Superintendent Carl Martin did not comment on the matter of Decker’s removal from school.