Parent concerned after 5-year-old brings knife to school

HAZEL PARK, Mich. (WJBK) - Every parent is concerned for their children's safety at school. 

One mother says that what happened at her child's school is proof it is never too early to talk to your kids about this issue.

Amari is 5 years old, learning how to write and spell his name, attending the Webster Early Childhood Development Center in Hazel Park. His mom loves the school but says the other day Amari came home with disturbing news - another little boy had brought a knife to school.

"I was in disbelief and I was scared and I was upset that I wasn't made aware of the situation," she said.

Monique Tyynismaa immediately called Amari's teacher and learned it was true.

"In early October, we had a 4-year-old at our preschool that brought a pocketknife to school two days in a row," said Amy Kruppe, superintendent of Hazel Park schools.

Kruppe says the 4-year-old child in another class brought a pocketknife to school twice. The first time the teacher found it and confiscated it - but the next day that same student brought another pocketknife to and it fell out of his pocket on the playground.

The superintendent says the school met with the parents of the 4-year-old as well as the parents of the other students who saw the knife. But they didn't meet with Amari's mom - and never sent home a letter to let parents know about the incident, so that they could talk to their children about safety.

"I didn't think this was something I had to talk to my son about," Monique said. "He knows that knives are sharp they can hurt people. Fire is hot we don't play with that. 

"At 3 and 4 and 5 - I think we now need to have that conversation with them at this age."

The superintendent agrees and says in light of recent tragedies, they'll make sure parents are better informed in the future.

"These aren't the things that you really want to be talking about with your 3- and 4-year-olds," said Kruppe. "But unfortunately given the nature of the environment that is happening, we are having these conversations every day with our children."

"All of the teachers there are working so hard and we want to work with them," Monique said. "It is our right to know about certain things that happen so we can help them to again - reduce the risk of this happening again."

The school is now sending home a letter to let parents know what happened back in October. They say they continually check the child in question to make sure he's not bringing anything else to school - and there have been no further incidents.