June 14, 2019

Action Alert:
Call for Firing of Principal who Threatened David Hogg


On June 11, 2019, Parkland survivor David Hogg took to social media to promote the #WeNeedToKnow campaign, a collaboration between his group March For Our Lives and Brady United Against Gun Violence. The campaign is calling for federal funding for gun violence research by the Centers for Disease Control andNational Institutes of Health. Hogg tweeted a selfie video in which he explained that such funding has been withheld by Congress for years, limiting our ability to develop evidence-based solutions to gun violence.

For some reason, Hogg’s modest proposal set off gun owner Chad Searcey, the principal of Compass Elementary School in Platte City, Missouri. Searcey responded to Hogg by tweeting a photo of himself holding a semiautomatic assault rifle, along with two other photos of family members firing guns (one a young boy with a handgun). Searcey captioned the post “#Merica” and tagged Hogg, MFOL, and Brady. The mass shooting that Hogg survived at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year was perpetrated with an assault rifle.

The Platte County R-3 School District placed Searcey on paid administrative leave pending the results of an internal investigation. Taxpayers are paying for him to sit at home and do nothing because he threatened and re-traumatized a young gun violence survivor.

Please contact Platte County R-3 School Superintendent Dr. Mike Reik through one of the channels listed below and give him the following message, personalized to your liking:

I was absolutely furious to learn that Compass Elementary School principal Chad Searcey tweeted images of himself and his family brandishing firearms at Parkland survivor David Hogg on June 11, 2019. I can’t fathom how mean and ugly a man must be to send an image of an AR-15 to a young man who survived a mass shooting perpetrated with that weapon. Searcey also sent Hogg images of children firing guns. The Parkland shooter, a teenager, killed 17 of Hogg’s fellow students and faculty members.  Every student in the building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas H.S. that day was traumatized. They have all had to deal with that trauma in the months since in order to survive and function. Hogg even more so because he has spent nearly every day since the shooting working on the issue of gun violence prevention so that others don’t have to experience the pain his community has. There is NO WAY that any competent, fit school administrator would send a threatening message to such a student and re-traumatize him. And for what? Because Hogg wants more federal funding for gun violence research?! Chad Searcey is clearly a threat to children. The implicit message in his tweet to Hogg is obvious: go too far in your gun reform advocacy and I will shoot and kill you in order to stop you. FIRE CHAD SEARCEY IMMEDIATELY. I am going to be watching your actions in this case closely and organizing in the community as necessary in response.  

Platte County R-3 School Superintendent Dr. Mike Reik
Phone: (816) 858-5420
Email: gardnerr@platteco.k12.mo.us
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PlatteCountyR3/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/drmikereik

After you contact Superintendent Reik, click the orange banner at the top of this page to report your action!


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