Several students, parents, and staff members attended the Indianola School Board meeting Monday night to talk about the rumor of an active threat situation last week, and to recommend the school hire a school resource officer.

Superintendent Art Sathoff tells KNIA News the public is always welcome to come and participate in the board meeting process, even if sometimes the board can’t directly answer their concerns right away.

“We do have a public comment period time set aside at the beginning of meetings for that exact reason, for people to get involved and speak on what they think the board should know. It is a public meeting, a meeting in the public but not of the public as it is often explained so they generally do just listen if an item is not on the agenda.”

Sathoff also said the board and administration do their best to engage with the public and ask questions when applicable to participants who make a public comment at a meeting.