FRANKLIN

A kindergarten student at S.P. Morton Elementary School allegedly poked two other classmates with a lancet while they were on the school bus on Monday morning.

Kelvin Edwards Sr., deputy superintendent of Franklin City Public Schools, said the central office was informed at approximately 7:45 a.m. by the school administration as soon as the students got off the bus.

Edwards was at Southampton Memorial Hospital when he responded to a call from The Tidewater News, which had been informed earlier this afternoon. He stated that the two students affected are fine, and that all parties, including parents, have been contacted and were present at the hospital at the time of the conversation.

In the 2 o’clock hour, Edwards said the children were being examined, and everyone is waiting to see what the hospital will do. He added that the children’s pediatricians were to be contacted before releasing anyone.

When asked if or when the Franklin City Police were contacted about the matter, spokesman Sgt. Scott Halverson stated mid-afternoon that the department got a call at 11:52 a.m. from the emergency room about two juveniles in reference to the aforementioned incident.

“Officers responded to the hospital and subsequently made contact with the children and their parents. Investigation revealed that while on the bus, the juveniles had come into contact with an automatic lancet device possessed by a third juvenile,” Halverson told the newspaper via email.

On Tuesday afternoon, Edwards said that the two children are fine and were back at school on Tuesday, and the families are waiting to hear from their respective pediatricians about testing.

The child alleged to have poked the classmates has been suspended for three days according to the school system’s code of conduct.