More Threats At Connecticut Schools

[AGBF]

At 3:30 PM today the woman who has been helping me with my father got a phone call that her two children could not go to their after school program at the YMCA. She was leaving at 3:30 anyway, but the children were, now, going to be kept in the school office until she arrived and and she had a long (perhaps as much as two hours) ride home from my house. I felt terrible for her because the boys are only 7 and 9 and two hours in a school office after a long school day is no picnic. But when she got to her car she phoned me and said the school was on lock-down and asked me to go to my computer and find out why. I did so. At first there was not much information available; the news only said that police were helping with early dismissal because of some chat in place where students can chat privately. It said that no direct threat had been made. Now it appears that something was specifically said about the town's high school. One of her brothers is a policeman in a neighboring town. I suggested she might get more news from him. I expect she will phone me later. After Sandy Hook, I am wondering if all the nuts are in southwestern Connecticut!

"ANSONIA, CT (WFSB) -

All Ansonia Public Schools dismissed early on Monday afternoon after police said a threatening 'anonymous post' was made on an after school app.

The administration said all four public schools in town were placed on "lockout" around 1:15 p.m. Police said the 'lockout' came after an 'anonymous concerning statement' was made on a social media website about Ansonia High School.

Police said there was 'no direct threat.'

Students were dismissed at all four public schools around 2:15 p.m. Police were on scene of all schools before and during dismissal.

Ansonia schools also canceled all after-school activities for Monday.

No one was allowed to enter the schools following the dismissal and police said all buildings will remain on 'lockout' at this time

Read more: http://www.wfsb.com/story/32042506/ansonia-public-schools-dismissed-early-due-to-anonymous-post#ixzz49VuV6fHy""

 

[KaeKae]

Terrible.
I hope all the children have been able to be picked up by now, and staff have gone home, too.
If you recall, not long ago, Los Angeles Unified School District closed all schools for a day, due to threats made. If I remember correctly, that effected...over 600,000 students, plus staff. We aren't far from there, but not the same district.
I know it's upsetting and creates havoc for many parents, but they have to make a quick decision that will keep everyone at the schools safe.

 

[AGBF]

Just an update on Ansonia: I was surprised to learn that the schools will be shut down again tomorrow. (The boys are both on baseball teams. Baseball practice has been cancelled, too.)

Since my friend works for me again tomorrow, she is bringing her sons down with her to "work" (my house). I told them I needed them to take care of Griffin (my Newfoundland). I also have a lot of unplanted shrubs in my driveway, so I told them they could look after my plants, too. I said, "In fact, you can pretend you're on a farm and look after the plants and animals". If they do anything here, I give each of them $10.00 (which they love). They can't really do anything for Griffin, but I could let them play with the hose and see if they hit any of my unplanted shrubs. They really are good kids!

I'll let you know if the police find out what's behind the brouhaha in the rumors in Ansonia. I hope there is no real person or group that has been planning an attack.

Deb

 

[AGBF]

Just an update on Ansonia: I was surprised to learn that the schools will be shut down again tomorrow. (The boys are both on baseball teams. Baseball practice has been cancelled, too.)

Today is "tomorrow". It's Tuesday. Here is a newspaper report from this morning. As of this morning parents were told that no decision had yet been reached as to whether schools would reopen on Wednesday.

"All Ansonia Public Schools are closed Tuesday after police said a threatening "anonymous post" was made on an after school app.

The administration said all four public schools in town were placed on "lockout" Monday afternoon. Police said the "lockout" came after an “anonymous concerning statement” was made on a social media website about Ansonia High School.

Police said there was "no direct threat."

Students were dismissed at all four public schools around 2:15 p.m. Police were on scene of all schools before and during dismissal.

"They called a 'code red' at the end of the day. We all had to get into the back of the classroom, the lights were shut off and the doors were locked and we just waited to see what happened," said student Joseph Forleo.

Ansonia schools also canceled all after-school activities for Monday.

No one was allowed to enter the schools following the dismissal and police said all buildings will remain on "lockout" at this time.

On Monday, school Superintendent Carol Merlone decided to cancel school for Tuesday to be safe.

Vincent Forleo, who is a father for three, said he supports the decision.

"I'd rather have the kids safe. Let him sit home and get some homework done," Forleo said.

Police have not named any suspects at this time or explained the language used in the threat.

Read more: http://www.wfsb.com/story/32042506/ansonia-schools-closed-on-tuesday-following-threatening-post#ixzz49atCPyGu""""

 

[YadaYadaYada]

I'm also in CT. My son goes to a magnet in Hartford. When I was in high school at Conard there were bomb threats all the time between our rival, Hall High. It was such a common occurrence they used to usher us in to the auditorium and play music until they determined it was safe to go back to class. Of course nothing ever came of any of that thankfully.

One of my biggest fears after Newtown was, what would be son do if something like that happened at his school. He was five at the time and the classroom was close to an outside door. He has a tendency to freeze up and we were very concerned he would just freeze in place, we had to have multiple discussions with him about that type of scenario.

Sad the world we live in today. Very scary. I understand why they have to take every threat seriously, I just wonder what the kids think of it? Does it scare them or do they rejoice about a day off from school? Hopefully the latter.

 

[KaeKae]

The fact that they kept the schools close today and are considering tomorrow tells me that there IS a credible threat.

It's terrible, but I'm very glad that safety comes first.

 

[AGBF]

Kaekae and StephanieLynn,

I began writing a reply to you yesterday, but things in my house were just too chaotic, and they remained chaotic until I fell into bed, exhausted! My friend was here with her two boys until after 9:00 PM and we had Chinese food and some treats from a bakery at the very end. The boys were looking at Newfoundlands on my computer and having me print out colorful Pokemon cards. It was really a free for all, and they had both been going full speed all day. They had some sort of baseball batting trainer (called a Hurricane) invented by Derek Jeter that they had set up in my front yard and the Newfoundland was lying a few yards away from it dozing, despite the screaming and other noise. But then a thrown baseball bat (which I had forbidden) came within inches of the dog. My daughter asked if he would bite. I said, "Never". Any other dog might, but Griffin would say, "This isn't a really good place to be. I think I'll move behind a bush".

To make my long saga a bit shorter, I wanted to thank both of you for taking the time to read what I had written and to respond so thoughtfully. I also wanted to let you know that I thought you were right and that there was some credible threat behind the closing of the schools.

Although the schools are open today, I heard the Superintendent of Schools speaking yesterday and she said that there would be an increased police presence in all schools until the end of the school year. That statement in itself was hardly reassuring (to me or to my friend who had to send her precious children back to school!). Who wants to send his children into a school system where an increased police presence is needed?

So that, for now, is that. Thank you.

Deb

 

[packrat]

Nobody does. But I'd rather they be there than not. Unless and until they know the extent of the possible threat, who it's coming from etc, their hands are tied, sadly, and all they can do is try to be ready just in case.

 

[KaeKae]

Thank you for the update, AGBF.
It's such a hard position for parents to be in.
Back in December we had to make a decision of whether to allow our daughter to go on a band trip to Paris over winter break. This was right after the attacks in November. Ultimately, we chose not to send her. I will always wish she could have gone. (I know she'll go eventually) but then on New Years eve there was trouble elsewhere in Europe (Brussels?) and I was reassured had made the best choice I could, at the time.
I am glad the district has increase the police presence. I can't say for your district, be here in our schools, there has been further training for staff in handling the unexpected, including shooters, or bombs. It's not fool proof, but they are being pro-active.

 

[AGBF]

Thank you for the update, AGBF.
It's such a hard position for parents to be in.
Back in December we had to make a decision of whether to allow our daughter to go on a band trip to Paris over winter break. This was right after the attacks in November. Ultimately, we chose not to send her. I will always wish she could have gone. (I know she'll go eventually) but then on New Years eve there was trouble elsewhere in Europe (Brussels?) and I was reassured had made the best choice I could, at the time.
I am glad the district has increase the police presence. I can't say for your district, be here in our schools, there has been further training for staff in handling the unexpected, including shooters, or bombs. It's not fool proof, but they are being pro-active.

I do not envy you having or my friend having young children in this day of school shootings, KaeKae. My daughter is not all that much older (she will be 24 on her next birthday), but she missed out on the school shootings. I guess we were still living in Virginia when there was a massacre at Virginia Tech. So maybe not. But at least she was, then, in high school. She didn't have to go all the way through school afraid of school shootings (read: with me afraid of school shootings). The most traumatic thing I endured for her in elementary school was 9/11, where many parents of children with whom she went to school were in New York City when the Twin Towers were hit and it took days to figure out who was where.

I hear you on Paris. Keeping people afraid is the terrorists' goal. I hope that your daughter can visit the city one day under much better circumstances.

Hugs,
Deb

 

[KaeKae]

I didn't realize you are in the NY area. We were, too, on 9/11. Clearly, we all were touched by the events, but I suppose our community was "fortunate" in that we lost "only" two people. We were Somerset Co, NJ, so not as many commuted into the city as say, Bergen or Monmouth counties. My kids were in 1st grade an preschool. While they've grown up in a post-9/11 world, neither understood what was going on at the time.

Just yesterday, we held a lock down drill in our school. I'm in a K/1 class, and it really did unnerve a couple of the kids. Not that we let on what a real emergency could be, just the idea that something could happen: maybe a animal could get on campus and we'd want to stay safe inside until it could be caught by the police. That doesn't really explain why we have to shut and lock the doors, turn out lights and all hover in the corner the furthest away from windows and doors (not an easy task finding that, either.) I can't imagine keeping the kids quiet in such a situation, either.

 

[AGBF]

I didn't realize you are in the NY area. We were, too, on 9/11. Clearly, we all were touched by the events, but I suppose our community was "fortunate" in that we lost "only" two people. We were Somerset Co, NJ, so not as many commuted into the city as say, Bergen or Monmouth counties. My kids were in 1st grade an preschool. While they've grown up in a post-9/11 world, neither understood what was going on at the time.

Hi, KaeKae. We were neighbors. But I guess we both moved around a bit. I am originally from Connecticut and we raised our daughter here until 2004 when we moved to northern Virginia/The District for my husband's job. When my parents started to become ill I was drawn back here and started to make the trip between Connecticut and Virginia frequently. I now spend my time living in Connecticut with my 95 year-old father and my husband is in our house in Virginia. Our town in southwestern Connecticut is considered a bedroom community for New York City and that is where my husband worked when he was here. In fact, his last office was in the Wall Street area, very close to the World Trade Center. He was lucky enough to be on a retreat in Massachusetts the day of the attack, but he was wild to get into Manhattan to get to his office, which was filled with rubble and blocked off by the National Guard. When he came home from Massachusetts that night, he brought another man from his office in New York who had been on the retreat with him...someone from New Jersey. He didn't know if he could get home because all the bridges were closed to Manhattan. We offered to have him spend the night, but ended up just giving him a clean shirt and letting him set out on the road!