According to a senior JCPS official, two Manual employees were “physically assaulted” in the main office during fourth block on Thursday “by a distraught student and their parent,” leading to calls to the Louisville Metro Police Department, Emergency Medical Services and Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS).
The JCPS official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, confirmed that security guard Ed Burton was taken to a hospital after the incident.
Manual administrators said that they were unable to give in-depth comments during the pending investigation.
Katie Boggs (12, YPAS), an office assistant, was in the main office at the time of the incident.
“Mr. Klingenfus was like ‘you need to go to the back,’ so we went to the back room and locked the door. All of the sudden we heard a bunch of really, really loud noises; stuff breaking and screaming. One of [the attackers] got ahold of scissors and started trying to go after Mr. Burton,” Boggs said.
LMPD arrived on the scene and helped to break up the fight. The assaulters fled from the scene as Manual office staff chased them out.
“We waited five or ten minutes and then we went out and Mr. Kuhn was washing blood off of his shirt,” Boggs said.
JCPS security officials first learned of the incident from Louisville Metro Police Department’s (LMPD) 4th Division, according to the JCPS official.
“I do believe Manual called 911 before calling district security. However, the first 911 call was made by a bystander who was witnessing the assault,” the official said.
Assistant Principal Mr. Klingenfus confirmed that the bystander was a member of the office staff.
It is district policy to first notify JCPS Security of an incident like this one and those officers will ask for police intervention if needed.
The LMPD had handled the situation just as JCPS Security arrived but JCPS will continue to follow protocol by conducting an internal investigation through the Security and Investigations Department.
At 4:27 p.m., administrators sent a message via OneCall to students, parents and teachers to explain the incident.
“During last block this afternoon, a situation with an upset student occurred in the main office. Security was called to calm the student. When the student made a threat toward the employee, law enforcement was contacted,” Mr. Mayes said
“We will not tolerate any behavior that threatens the safety of our staff, students or campus,” Mayes wrote.
