Boone’s Statement On Contacting Burncoat Principal Found Untrue

Thursday, April 23, 2015
GoLocal Worcester News Team

On Wednesday, GoLocal Worcester reported that Worcester Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Melinda Boone failed to contact Burncoat High School principal William Foley following Friday's discovery of a gun and ammunition in a locker at the school.

When GoLocal Worcester asked for comment from Dr. Boone, WPS Communication Specialist Jen Roy sent a statement from Boone's office that implied that Boone had indeed "reached out" to Foley. However, multiple sources indicated that this wasn't the case at all.

On Wednesday morning, Roy reached out to GoLocal to ask why the story was published even though Dr. Boone had sent a statement stating that she contacted Foley. According to Roy, "When the statement said Boone had reached out to Foley, we meant that she actually had been in contact with him."

However, following up once again with sources with knowledge of the situation, GoLocal confirmed that Boone never tried to reach out to Foley and as of Wednesday afternoon still had not spoken with him.

The statement from Dr.Boone's office read: "Superintendent Melinda Boone was out on Friday and the Chief Academic Officer, Marco Rodrigues, was acting. Superintendent Boone was in direct contact with Dr. Rodrigues throughout the afternoon and reached out to Principal William Foley on Friday. The Superintendent will meet with Mr. Foley this week to review the safety protocols currently in place at Burncoat High School and to determine if additional measures should be in place when school resumes on Monday."

As of Wednesday, there had been no contact and there are only two days remaining in the week for Dr. Boone to meet with Foley to review safety protocols.