Pinellas County school superintendent Michael Grego announced Tuesday that officials would hold a "complete debriefing" to examine how leaders at Tarpon Springs High responded to a Sept. 4 death threat at the school.
He said the examination will include the school's two resource officers, the Tarpon Springs Police Department, Tarpon High's administrative team and Ward Kennedy, the area superintendent overseeing the school. They are expected to meet today or Thursday.
The group will review the events that transpired after a man, according to police reports, called the school office saying he planned to come and kill principal James Joyer. According to police and district accounts, Joyer quickly stopped a school resource officer's efforts to trace the man's call.
A resource officer said in his report that Joyer's secretary called him "and advised me to hang up the phone and do not pursue this matter any further."
At the time, it was unclear whether the man was serious about his threat or whether he was armed. There were no calls for police backup or to secure the school through a lockdown or a lockout.
One of the resource officers, Taurean Mathis of the Tarpon Springs Police Department, reached Edward S. Ecker, 56, by phone a week later, using the phone number that was called to make the threat. Police said Ecker admitted to the officer that he made the threatening call and that it had to do with "personal issues."
Police ran a criminal background check on Ecker that came up clean. But the Tampa Bay Times found that the check was in error and Ecker served 24 months probation in North Carolina for three misdemeanors, including a charge for an assault that inflicted serious bodily injury in 2007. Ecker, a St. Petersburg businessman, has not been charged in the Tarpon High threat.
Joyer has declined to be interviewed.
"Things were not done appropriately. And we recognize that on both sides, and we're on one side," Grego said at Tuesday's School Board meeting. "We'll follow through with any and all appropriate disciplinary action."
Joyer sent out an automated telephone message to Tarpon Spring High families Sunday regarding the Times story.
"I'm calling you this afternoon to address the newspaper article from Saturday," the message said. "Let me reassure you our vision of 100 percent student success by providing your child with a challenging academic curriculum in a safe learning environment is our focus every day."
He added: "As principal, I take full responsibility for any event which occurs at our school."
The message went on to tell parents that, after the incident, a safety team consisting of school administrators and school resource officers met to review the school's response plan and make appropriate modifications "to improve our efficiency and effectiveness for the safety of all of our stakeholders."
Joyer also said a lockdown drill was held last week and was observed by district safety personnel, who provided feedback.
Ellyn Palermo Theophilopoulos — the mother of a recent Tarpon Springs High graduate and of a current sophomore at the school — was the last to speak during the public comment segment at Tuesday's board meeting.
"The inaction was of poor judgement by our principal — and not only a poor judgment, but a reckless judgment," she told board members. "You do not make a decision to meet your personal needs first over the safety of students and teachers."
Haven Chrysakis, whose son is a sophomore at the school, accompanied Theophilopoulos to the board meeting. "My child came home and told me the rumor," she said afterward. "All of the parents have a terrible taste in their mouth."
Colleen Wright can be reached at cwright@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8643. Twitter: @Colleen_Wright.