On Feb. 15, Principal Tom Harmas addressed the students with the following message:

Good morning everyone.  I know the events of the last few weeks have put some of us on edge and to help all of us I wanted to tell you the facts instead of you reading rumors on social media.

So, let’s look at some of the things that have occurred.

1. A young boy accosted a girl with a paring knife in a bathroom.This has been dealt with by the school and Carmel Police Department in an appropriate manner. There were no injuries and the student and was apprehended within minutes. As a matter of fact, the young lady has not missed a day of school.
2. There were 2 altercations on Tuesday.The first lasted literally 2 seconds and the second lasted 1.5 seconds before staff members stepped in.So this was a total of 2 altercations lasting a combined 3.5 seconds.Again, the school and Carmel Police Department dealt with these issues appropriately.
3. Yesterday, we were made aware by students of a rumor of a possible school shooting.This rumor started due to a text strand between a group of students.To paraphrase, they were talking about the past two weeks’ events and then a student wrote that he didn’t want something like a school shooting to happen.Another wrote to a friend that a dangerous time would be when all the students are in a convocation.Then others chimed in saying “let’s talk about good things” and they began to write about puppies.
4. From there the rumor mill went to “there is going to be a school shooting at Friday’s convocation.” To be clear, a threat was never made. Ladies and gentlemen, there is not a convocation on Friday and there has never been a convocation scheduled on Friday. NEVER.
5. Some of you have shared with us or have seen a video of one of our students showing off ammo magazines.This has been investigated by the school administration and Carmel Police Department and has been deemed no threat to our staff or students.

We appreciate students, staff, parents and the community’s willingness to report events.  We believe in “See Something, Say Something.”  Because of this, we have been able to investigate each event, even before most of you knew what was happening.  Social media, when used incorrectly, can be damaging to people.  Always remember to use this only in a responsible manner.

We have been working closely with Carmel Police Department to ensure the safety of everyone in this building.

We are a Greyhound family and we have always taken care of one another and we always will.

Now everyone take a second to breathe.  We are all OK and looking out for one another.  We will move forward.  That is what makes Carmel High School a special place for everyone.

A video of his live statement can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0axk1cFtMRQ&feature=youtu.be