A screenshot of Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School senior Jordan Rouse’s YouTube apology.As dozens of Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School students protest administrators’ decision to suspend a senior for making an offensive rap video, school officials maintain that the video constituted a “terroristic threat” that called for stern repercussions.
Officials suspended senior Jordan Rouse after he posted a YouTube video earlier this week in which he rapped about bringing an AK-47 into a school and “blowing them to heaven.”
The video was made in response to an insulting video posted by a Ringgold student, LFO students said.
“The school doesn’t monitor Facebook, but someone who was concerned by it brought it to the attention of administrators,” said Marissa Brower, communications specialist for Catoosa County Schools.
Because Rouse didn’t have a history of discipline, Brower said administrators asked him to take down the video and forbade him from attending Tuesday night’s basketball game against Ringgold High.
Rouse did not comply with either order, Brower said.
“Based on that, his actions fall in our student handbook under the offense of a terroristic threat,” Brower said. “Any time we get that kind of threat we have to take it very seriously.”
On Wednesday Rouse and his parents signed a waiver that agreed Rouse would opt to attend LFO’s alternative school site, Gateway, instead of having his discipline decided by a panel of administrators.
In nine weeks, administrators will evaluate his grades and behavior to decide whether to let him finish out the semester back at LFO.
Rouse’s departure sparked anger among students who have made “Free Rouse!” a rallying cry they’ve emblazoned on signs around the school and across Facebook.
“We’re all just trying to show support for him,” freshman Haley McConathy said. “He’s a great friend to all of us. He’s never been in trouble. He’s the type of kid who has your back no matter who you are.”
A Facebook petition calling for Rouse’s return had garnered 206 signatures Thursday night, she said.
Rouse also has posted an apology rap video to Ringgold students and school officials on YouTube.
“Would I ever shoot? No of course not, dude. I’ve never had a gun in my life, I wouldn’t know what to do.”
Despite Rouse’s video and students’ protests, Brower said school officials will not budge on their decision.
“The school administration followed the student’s code of ethics,” she said. “Our highest priority is to maintain the safety of the kids in our school.”
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This story was changed on February 6, 2012. The original story stated that Rouse was rapping about bringing the gun into Ringgold High School. A school official said Rouse, then a student at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School, was referring to Ringgold High School. However, he did not reference Ringgold High School in the video.