RUTHERFORD COUNTY, Tenn. (WGNS News) – On Wednesday afternoon, parents of children who attend Siegel Middle School received a message from the school principal after an unusual situation unfolded involving a student and a small bag of blood, described by school officials as a “baggie.” While school administrators focused on addressing the incident and the students involved, attention elsewhere quickly turned to social media, where details about what happened were apparently distorted, according to information WGNS learned from Rutherford County Schools on Thursday evening.
The unusual incident unfolded quickly, and accounts of what occurred grew beyond the circumstances described by school officials before parents were contacted with details. James Evans, Chief Communications Officer for Rutherford County Schools, stated, “We, too, saw the social media post from a parent last night, and the information that was shared was not accurate.”
Evans told WGNS that a sixth-grade student brought a “…small, sealed baggie of her blood to school with her yesterday.” Several parents responding to a social media post questioned how the student obtained the blood, how it was collected and where the child may have been bleeding in order to have enough to place in a bag. Despite those questions, no verified explanation was provided about how the blood was obtained. The school system has not released further details explaining why the student brought it to school, but Evans emphasized, “At no time was the bag opened and no student got any blood on them.” He also confirmed that the blood belonged to the student…