State Senator Defends Granddaughter Who Threatened Toll Gate Classmate
Wednesday, February 08, 2017
Former State Senator Bill Walaska said Tuesday that his involvement in his granddaughter's suspension - and return - has been minimal.
On Monday, a Tollgate High School parent took to social media to say that in the fall, a classmate of her daughter's threatened to kill her, and was suspended -- and that despite promises that the student would likely not return to the high school, she was back this week.
The student who made the threat and was suspended is the granddaughter of former State Senator Bill Walaska, who was defeated in the Democratic primary last fall, but served in the state legislature through the end of the year.
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Warwick resident Gina Mercurio Martin said that after her daughter was threatened, that the classmate posted a picture of herself holding a gun.
Walaska spoke about the incidents in a call with GoLocal.
“Regarding the gun, I think what [my granddaughter] was doing -- she was over her father's house with some friends. She didn't make a threat with it, it was dumb 15 year old kids, and someone took a picture and put it on the internet, like kids do," said Walaska. "She made no threats with that gun. He father just happened to have it."
Walaska said that he hadn't seen the original texts between the girls, which Martin said she reported to the school and police department due to the nature of the threats.
"No, I haven't seen any of the text messages," said Walaska, when asked if he had seen the messages that Martin said showed his granddaughter threatened to kill his daughter,
Different Opinions of Severity
While the mother of the victim of the threats said that she is fearful, Walaska described the incidents as kids being kids.
"Look, two girls had a disagreement over a boy. This was all over a boy -- there were no altercations, it was all verbal, and [my granddaughter] got suspended," said Walaska. "This happened months ago, and that was it. They checked everything out, they all said she can go back, that she can go to summer school to make it up. Whatever happened happened a long time ago. If you rob a bank, it's not like this. The poor kid's out of school all this time, and this mother's now started this baloney."
But the mother of the victim has raised the red flag about threats and guns. “When you’ve lived through Columbine, Sandy Hook, this is just sad,” said Martin. “There’s not a parent in the world that would want this child back in school.”
Did the Senator Intervene?
Walaska admits that he was involved, but denied any political influence. He was beaten in the fall in the Democratic primary by Jeanine Calkin, a former Bernie Sanders volunteer.
”I went to the School Committee with my daughter for support. I didn't say much...this child just wants to go back to school. It's over with this other girl, I don't know why this woman doesn't believe in forgiveness,” said Walaska.
"I was involved to the extent that we agreed on a plan, adhered to that plan. My granddaughter has a social worker at DCYF who is 100% behind her, she said it's not right [what's happening]," said Walaska. "They did a psych evaluation and it came up fine. She went back on Monday."
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