--pws
Bomb threat discovered at Winchester High School
By Anna Meiler
Wed Jan 23, 2008, 12:21 PM EST
Winchester, MA - A bomb threat, reading "Bomb this week," was found written across a boys' bathroom wall at Winchester High School on Jan. 15, according to School Resource Officer Dan Perenick.
The threat was reported to Officer Perenick shortly after B-block, which ends at 10:04 a.m. Winchester High School Principal Thomas Gwin made sure that students and faculty were informed of the threat via a memo that teachers were instructed to read to their students. However, many students were not read the memo until the afternoon, several hours after the threat had been discovered.
Many students felt that they should have been notified promptly after the bomb threat was found so that if they did not feel safe staying on the premises, they could have had the option of going home.
"Some students might be more scared about that situation than others, and no student deserves to stay somewhere where they don't feel comfortable or safe," said WHS senior Richy Gately.
Gina Scioli, also a WHS senior, agreed that the student body should have been immediately informed.
"I felt very unsafe being at school after I found out," she said.
Officer Perenick explained that after a threat is reported, the administration has a number of things to do. The administration's tasks include contacting the Winchester Police and Fire Departments, devising a safety plan with the Incident Management Team, and following a threat assessment to evaluate the severity of the threat.
Perenick assessed the threat as a "nonspecific, low-level" threat. If the threat had been more detailed – for example, had it warned that the bombing would occur that day – the school would have taken necessary measures and evacuated the students, he said.
"The students do have a right to know, but we have a job to do first," said Officer Perenick. "We assess and then we communicate."
"I think the students need to be notified as soon as possible, but the administration does need to figure out the situation in as much detail as they can so the students can be fully informed," said WHS senior Andy Parsons.
However, the method of communicating the threat was deemed unsatisfactory by some students.
One WHS student, who wished to remain anonymous, said that her teacher failed to read the memo to her class, leaving many students unaware of the threat.
"I left school that day and had no clue that there had been a bomb threat," she said.
In order to make parents aware of the threat, the principal sent an e-mail to all parents and guardians that day. The e-mail detailed the nature of the threat and the actions to be taken in response. But some students and parents felt that an e-mail alone was not sufficient to ensure awareness, and several students have said that their parents were incognizant of the threat until their children notified them.
"Some parents aren't very 'e-mail active,' so they definitely could have handed out sheets in school for the students to bring home to their parents and they could have left messages on the phones of different parents in the school. Even though it was seen as a minor threat, a lot of parents do not like to take chances," said Richy Gately, whose mother was unaware of the threat until he informed her.
Winchester High School Vice-Principal Gerald Chapman admits that the communication issue is still a problem, but that "it's better now than ever."
"The town has been investigating ways to improve the communication issue, and they are working on finding ways to be able to send messages out to everybody," he said.
Officer Perenick explained a communication method called the Reverse Emergency Notification System which calls emergency contact phone numbers and a recorded message will explain the situation to the parents or leave a voicemail if the person does not answer their phone.
"It is not in place in Winchester, but other towns have it," said Chapman. "It's a financial issue."
But according to Officer Perenick, Winchester High School will have it "up and running soon."
Editor's Note: Anna Meiler, 17, is a senior at Winchester High School. She is enrolled in the high school's pilot journalism course and plans to major in journalism in college.
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