Student ‘unknowingly’ hands out razor blades hidden in Valentine cards, Ohio school says

Elementary school students received Valentine’s Day cards with razor blades hidden inside, resulting in one child getting cut, Ohio police and news outlets report.

The incident happened Feb. 13 at Hatton Community Learning Center, an elementary school on Akron’s southeast side, Akron Public Schools said in a statement.

District officials say a student “unknowingly handed out sealed valentine’s envelopes with a razor blade inside” and another student discovered the sharp surprise.

“APS immediately notified law enforcement and its Safety team, who are actively investigating the incident. The safety and well-being of our students is, and always will be, our number one priority,” the district said.

Tanekea Wright says her 5-year-old daughter came home with the envelope, opened it up and cut her finger, WKYC reported.

“She came up just crying, and I’m looking, like, ‘What’s going on?’ And there’s just blood just flowing out her finger,” she told the outlet, adding that the incident has hurt her faith in the school district.

“They just let me down,” she said.

Alexis Lawson, mother of a 6-year-old Hatton CLC student, said she learned about the razor blades from a friend who saw a Facebook post warning of the cards, then searched her son’s box of Valentine’s gifts and found the envelope, she told WOIO.

“I was crying,” she said. “I was very mad. I can’t use the words I would like to use. I was more hurt because we had a paper from the teacher that all valentines had to be turned in by Monday like Monday four days prior which means they were more than likely sitting in that classroom for three days and on the fourth day it got passed out.”

Lawson called police and was told she was the 11th person to call about the razor blades, and the 8th house officers had visited, the outlet reported.

School officials say the envelopes were “allegedly purchased at a local retail outlet.”

More specifically, the student and their father bought the envelopes from a novelty store, police told WOIO. The envelopes were plain and pre-sealed, police said.

“The safety of our students is paramount,” Stacey Hodoh, district spokesperson, said in a statement. “We are grateful that this incident was reported quickly, and we are working diligently to understand the circumstances. We encourage families to check any valentines brought home from school as a precautionary measure.”

Police said the matter is being handled by the school district and “after a preliminary review of the incident, we concluded that there was no criminal intent involved.”

This story was originally published February 18, 2025 at 9:49 AM with the headline "Student ‘unknowingly’ hands out razor blades hidden in Valentine cards, Ohio school says."