Pell City Schools has expelled a sixth grader at Williams Intermediate School after officials discovered a death list in the student’s notebook containing the names of five classmates.

According to the Pell City Police Department, school officials made police aware of the discovery when it occurred last week. Local law enforcement then conducted an investigation, but found there was no “credible threat to any students of any immediate harm or any harm at all,” said Pell City Police Chief Clay Morris.

According to Alabama law, principals must notify appropriate law enforcement officials when any person violates a local board or education policies concerning drugs or alcohol, or after a threat or incident of physical harm to a person.

The student – whose name has not been disclosed because he is a minor – was referred to St. Clair County’s juvenile probation office.

“This is a type of thing we won’t tolerate,” said James Martin, superintendent of Pell City Schools. “Student safety is a priority for our school system. When parents send their kids to school their expectation is that their kids receive a quality education, and primarily and most of all, that they are safe.”

Martin said he notified the parents of the five students who were on the list and held a meeting with school administrators this week to make sure everyone was up to date on safety protocols.

He also noted that he immediately contacted police when he was notified of the problem, and is currently working with the county commission and board of education to get a School Resource Officer in every school – an effort that has been underway since the Uvalde shooting in May and will likely take effect this school year.

“We’ve been working toward this for quite some time…we just needed to kind of accelerate the process. It’s been happening slowly. But I think when [Uvalde] happened, we kind of put our foot on the gas,” said Martin.

The incident comes on the heels of a discovery of a “death notebook” in nearby Trussville City Schools, where a high schooler wrote the names of 37 classmates he allegedly wanted to kill. According to the Trussville mayor, the notebook was originally discovered on Oct. 21, 2021, after it was reported by another student. The principal, who was made aware of the notebook at the time, did not notify parents or other staff until the student apparently again threatened to harm others on Sept. 16.

The student was charged with a felony, but the case was dropped due to an Alabama law on terroristic threats. The principal of the school, Tim Salem, is now on administrative leave, and the superintendent, Pattie Neill, also has taken a voluntary leave of absence.