Read and download AAPD report of March 13, 2025 incident.
by P.D. Lesko
On March 13, 2025 three AAPD officers were dispatched to Tappan Middle School: “reference a report of a subject with an assault rifle.” AAPS administrators, including Dir. of Student & School Safety Liz Margolis, and the Principal of Tappan Middle School, Dr. Tyese Parnell, failed to immediately communicate with parents when it was thought someone with an assault rifle had been seen at the school. The “subject with an assault rifle” turned out to be a drawing of a handgun in the dirt of the school’s baseball diamond accompanied by a threat of violence: “Don’t be at school at 12;50 on March 14.” The March 13, 2025 AAPD report classified the incident as an Intentional Threat to Commit an Act of Violence Against Schools.
Tappan parents are still upset. Why parents are still peeved is identified in the police Dispatch report which notes at 1:06 p.m.: “SCHOOL DID NOT MAKE *FORMAL* NOTIFICATION FOR PARENTS TO PICK UP CHILDREN, KIDS ALL STARTED TEXTING THEIR PARENTS WHICH IS WHAT HAS PROMPTED FLOODING OF PARENTS TO SCHOOL.”
Parents also claim there was a subsequent student assembly at Tappan where students were told about the drawing, and also told it would not be necessary to inform their parents about the March 13 incident. AAPS spokesman Andrew Cluely said in an email, “No, the assembly was not about telling students not to tell parents, it was reminding students to tell school staff immediately about incidents like this so the school can respond.”
AAPS spokesman Cluely provided two emails Principal Tyese Parnell sent on March 13, 2025 to Tappan parents. In both emails the principal apprised parents of the drawing of a handgun, but omitted the text of the threat, that students should not be in school on the following day, March 14 at 12:50 p.m.
Parents say had they known the threat was made for the following day, they would have kept their children home. One parent wondered why the AAPS took a gamble with the lives of hundreds of children and didn’t close Tappan on March 14. Tappan Principal Parnell said to parents in one of her two March 13, 2025 emails, “We will not hesitate to take action that may include emergency removal of a student and/or closing of a school if the threat contains specific and credible information.”
Why the precise date and time of a threat to shoot up Tappan Middle School was not deemed “specific and credible information” by AAPS officials remains unanswered.
“They Saw a Male With An Assault Rifle”
At 12:45 p.m. on March 13, 2025 a parent of a Tappan Middle School student called Washtenaw County 911 Dispatch. The Dispatch report states, “CLR STATES HER SON CALLED HER AND SAID THEY SAW A MALE WITH AN ASSAULT RIFLE — WAS TOLD THE POLICE WERE CALLED BUT NO ONE HAS ARRIVED.”
At 12:46 the 911 Dispatch report states, “CALLING THE SCHOOL NOW TO SEE IF WE CAN GET FURTHER.” No one answered the phone at Tappan Middle School.
According to the police report about the March 13, 2025 incident obtained by the A2Indy, the “man with the assault rifle” was a drawing on the Tappan baseball diamond of a firing handgun next to a threat: “Don’t be at school at 12:50 on March 14.”
On March 13, 2025 Tappan Middle School science teacher Paul Hanna was outside with his class. The teacher and his students “found writing in the dirt which read “DO[N]T be in School at 12;50 march 14th” with a drawing of a gun next to it.” The AAPD report says that Hanna destroyed the evidence of the threat, but that officer Baldwin “was able to obtain a photograph taken of the writing.
At 11:58 a.m. Hanna “sent an email out to staff/administration notifying them of a threatening drawing located outside of the school.” Principal Parnell told police she had been in the lunchroom and so had not seen Hanna’s email (along with a photo of the drawing of a gun and the text of the threat) until “12:07 or something like that.” Parnell told police she called her boss and the AAPD at 12:22.
Principal Parnell told the AAPD officer that in the case of such threats it is the AAPD “policy” to call the AAPD “non-emergency line” and to leave it up to the AAPD to determine if there is an emergency.
What Parnell didn’t do, was to send out any notification to Tappan parents.
When asked by responding AAPD Sgt. Shafer “how parents had been notified,” Parnell replied, “The news of the drawing began circulating and students were texting/calling their parents to pick them up. No formal notification had been made at that time.”
As a result, Tappan parents flocked to the school to get their children, because their children had sent texts and called to say there was an active shooter.
AAPD officer Jennifer Baldwin’s March 13, 2025 police report states, “After speaking with Parnell and making sure Officer Stankey and Sergeant Shafer (both of whom responded to Parnell’s 12:22 p.m. call) were all set, I relocated outside to the main entrance to monitor the influx of vehicle/pedestrian foot traffic. Several school employees were outside assisting parents with retrieving their children.”
At 12:58 p.m., and hour after Paul Hanna “sent an email out to staff/administration notifying them of a threatening drawing located outside of the school,” the police report notes that the AAPS Exec. Dir. of School and Student Safety Liz Margolis arrived and, together with Parnell, “investigated the scene.” In one of her March 13, 2025 emails to parents, Parnell writes, “we engaged Ann Arbor Police to be on-site to assist with our investigation.”
Student Safety Lapses and a Federal Lawsuit
The AAPS issued no press release about the March 13, 2025 threat to do violence at Tappan.
Liz Margolis, who has a degree in communications from MSU, was the AAPS Dir. of Communications from 2003-2015. In 2017, Margolis was rehired at the AAPS as the Exec. Dir. of Student & School Safety. Under Margolis, over the past six years suspensions of students who are Black and poor have skyrocketed. An April 2025 MLive article states, “Students who are Black or economically disadvantaged have been at times twice as likely to be suspended compared some of their classmates over several years in Ann Arbor Public Schools.”
The AAPS is currently embroiled in a federal lawsuit involving the alleged cover-up of the physical abuse of an autistic second grader in 2020, an incident that cost former Superintendent Jeanice Kerr Swift her job. Margolis, head of student safety, was not fired.
That 2020 lawsuit involves Jaime Nelson, a 45-year-old mother who is suing the Ann Arbor schools over a 2020 bus incident during which an aide pinned down, smacked and restrained her then 7-year-old son as he frantically yelled for help and flailed his arms. The boy was a second-grader at Carpenter Elementary during the incident, and no longer attends school there.
In a story first reported by the Free Press, Nelson said AAPS officials had concealed the abuse of her son for five weeks. Nelson told the Free Press she “didn’t know exactly what happened to her child until four months later, when a detective showed her a videotape of the incident at the Pittsfield Township police station.”
According to Nelson’s lawsuit against the AAPS, “Nelson only learned of the physical abuse through a teacher who broke ranks to tell the truth.”
Her son’s boy’s classroom teacher wrote this email confirming what Nelson and her lawyers maintain was a cover-up:
“I am concerned that I am going to lose all credibility with mom when she finds out that I knew about these allegations and didn’t tell her,” the teacher emailed the principal and others on Jan. 18, 2021 — more than a month after the assault. “I also don’t feel comfortable keeping this from mom.”
In March 2024, the AAPS lost its bid to have the Nelson lawsuit dismissed. A trial is scheduled for May 2026.
Principal Parnell Emailed Parents on March 13
Andrew Cluely provided two email messages Tyese Parnell sent out to Tappan parents on March 13, 2025. In the first email, Principal Parnell tells parents “students noticed a drawing in the dirt that resembled a handgun.” In neither of her March 13, 2025 emails to Tappan parents, did Parnell reveal the threat that was written next to the drawing of the handgun: “DON[T] be at school of March 14 at 12;50” that accompanied the drawing, a threat which was included in the AAPD report from March 13:
Dear Families,
I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to inform you about an incident that occurred at school today. While playing outside during recess, students noticed a drawing in the dirt that appeared to resemble a handgun.
Please be assured that we take matters like this very seriously, as the safety and well-being of our students are our top priorities. The students were responsible and immediately reported this to the staff. We have involved local law enforcement and are actively investigating to ensure the safety of our students and staff.
We assure you that we are committed to maintaining a safe and supportive environment for all students. As part of this commitment, we will be speaking with students about the importance of reporting anything unusual or concerning to a trusted adult.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss this further, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly.
Thank you for your continued support in fostering a safe and positive school community.
Sincerely,
Dr. Tyese Parnell, Principal
Tappan Middle School
In a second email message, Principal Parnell addressed school safety:
Subject: Reassurance Regarding School Safety
Dear Tappan Families:
I am writing to provide an update and reassurance regarding an incident that occurred today at school. As you may know, a drawing in the dirt resembling a handgun was discovered on school grounds during the 6th-grade advisory when students were outside with staff.
We want to assure you that the situation was addressed immediately and thoroughly. The drawing was removed and our staff conducted a careful review to ensure there were no further concerns. As we always do, we engaged Ann Arbor Police to be on-site to assist with our investigation. We have also taken this opportunity to reinforce our commitment to maintaining a safe and secure environment with our students, as we know many, especially our 6th graders, were upset with what they saw.
When reports of threats come to our attention, we immediately investigate and implement our district threat assessment protocols. We will not hesitate to take action that may include emergency removal of a student and/or closing of a school if the threat contains specific and credible information.
Please know that the safety and well-being of our students remain our highest priority. We will continue to monitor our campus closely and encourage open communication with students about reporting anything unusual or concerning. Be assured that we followed the district’s response and investigation protocols.
Thank you for your trust and support as we work together to create a safe and positive learning environment.
Sincerely,
Dr. Parnell
Tappan Principal
There are security cameras that cover the grounds of Tappan Middle School, but not the baseball diamond where the drawing of the gun and the threat were left. The AAPD report ends with the “Suspects” section: “There are no known suspects at this time. No students have come forward with information or to claim responsibility for the drawing.”
Likewise, the police report says there were no known witnesses to the incident.
While Principal Parnell’s March 13, 2025 email thanks Tappan parents for their “trust and support,” for some parents who showed up at the school on March 13 in response to frenzied text messages from their children, there are more questions about the AAPS handling of the threat, than support and trust.
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