Kentucky State Police outraged by high school assignment

MAYFIELD, KY (KFVS) - Kentucky State Police were outraged over a child's school assignment.

An article review assignment given to a Graves County High School class didn't sit well with police.

"I think its just a bad timing issue," Sergeant Kyle Nall said.

He said students learning about police use of deadly force and minorities, after the loss of a state trooper, is too soon.

"I just think with the state of mourning the community is in and law enforcement," Nall said. 'It's just a bad time to have students reviewing and analyzing law enforcement deadly force issues with minorities."

Nall said police learned about the Graves County High School assignment when one of the students, the child of a trooper, didn't feel right discussing the issue.

"She got a phone call from her son," he said. "He was uncomfortable completing the assignment with the current event of us losing a trooper in the line of duty."

Kim Dublin is Graves County superintendent.

She said the assignment was intended to be thought provoking and create an open dialogue, but the timing may have been wrong.

"Current events are important, however the timing we deliver them is even more important," she said.

Dublin said the district held a meeting with police and apologized if the assignment offended anyone.

"I gave them the assignment and gave them the background of it and severely apologized," Dublin said. "In no way were we trying to hurt anybody's feeling or perceive ourselves as insensitive."

Kentucky State Police and the district agreed to pull the assignment.

Nall said they hope to now move forward from this situation.

"I don't want this one isolated incident to take away from the relationship we have with them," Nall said. "Because to me one isolated incident can not cover up all the good things they've done for us."

Sergeant Nall said police agreed to speak with the class sometime in the future.

He said the plan is to help students better understand the topic from the perspective of police.

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