A Threatening Voicemail Was Left At A.M. Kulp Elementary School In North Penn

NORTH PENN, PA — Police investigators in the North Penn area are looking into a threatening voicemail that was recently left at a local elementary school, the message coming soon after a story broke about a teacher holding a controversial classroom exercise last school year.

Hatfield Township Police have confirmed that they are investigating a threatening phone message left at A.M. Kulp Elementary School recently, saying that the voicemail was left at the school over last weekend and discovered at the start of this school week.

The police department said that township detectives are looking into the matter, and that they couldn't comment further for fear of jeopardizing the investigation.

"While this department does not comment on the investigative steps being taken or the progress of an active investigation, we feel it is vital to acknowledge that we understand the deep concern and anxiety that this incident has caused our community," Hatfield Police said in a statement. "To be clear, we agree with and stand with those who have spoken out against such hateful words. There are no circumstances in which this type of misinformed, vicious communication is an appropriate way to raise questions, voice concerns, or express dissenting opinions. There is no place within any community for such vitriol, let alone when it is directed at those who educate our community's children."

Police did not reveal the specifics with regard to what was said in the voicemail, but local media reports said the message threatened violence against a teacher who was the subject of controversy recently when she was accused of lining up white and black students and making the white ones apologize for the color of their skin tone.

The North Penn School District subsequently acknowledged that a teacher at A.M. Kulp Elementary conducted a cultural proficiency classroom exercise last school year but said it did not in any way involve the lining up of students by race or making any group of students apologize to another group.

The Mercury newspaper of Pottstown recently reported that the threatening message was played by district staff during a recent meeting of the North Penn board of school directors.

The classroom exercise that appeared to start off the firestorm was the subject of social media commentary by various conservative groups who reiterated a claim by an A.M. Kulp parent who said during a public meeting that she had pulled her child out of the elementary school after the controversial classroom exercise.

In her remarks, the woman chastised the school board for not doing more about the matter, saying that exercises like this would cause divisiveness and create problems with young students.

After the national story broke, the school district responded by saying that there was very little truth to the woman's claims, although the district did admit some type of cultural proficiency exercise had been held by a teacher at A.M. Kulp last school year.

The district, however, did not offer specifics with regard to the exercise itself.