By Brian Zanzonico
When Malverne High School students heard the fire bell at about 9:30 on Tuesday morning, Nov. 16, they thought it was a routine fire drill.
As they had so many times before, they calmly rose from their seats, exited the building and waited outside. But unlike such exercises in the past, students found themselves being led by teachers across busy Ocean Avenue and into the Howard T. Herber Middle School auditorium. This was clearly no fire drill.
Minutes earlier, a man had called the main office and said there was a bomb in the high school building, according to Malverne School District Superintendent Mary Ellen Freeley. It was the third bomb scare at an area school in recent weeks. West Hempstead and Garden City high schools were evacuated after receiving similar threats.
He stated that there was a bomb in the school and that we had 10 minutes to exit the building before the bomb would be detonated, principal Glenda Good wrote in a letter of explanation to parents on Nov. 18.
The Malverne Police Department, Nassau County Police Department and Malverne Fire Department converged on the scene. Police swept the school twice for explosives, but found nothing, and after about 90 minutes, students and faculty were allowed back in the building. But not before some nerves were rattled, however.
I was a little nervous, said junior Vladimir Francois, who noted that terrorism was the first thought that came to his mind.
It-s unusual, said Freeley, who was at Davison Avenue School when she received word and rushed the 3/4 of a mile to the high school. [Good] said this hadn-t happened in 10 years.
Nassau County Fifth Squad detectives are investigating the threat, trying to determine whether it is linked to those in Garden City and West Hempstead. Making a bomb threat, technically the false reporting of an incident, is a class A misdemeanor.
Freeley said she would be surprised if the caller turned out to be a student. Usually kids don-t do this, because they know the repercussions, she said. Plus, now with terrorism, the kids are concerned about their safety.
Freeley said that once the threat was made, the school implemented its evacuation plan, which was designed by Joe Donoghue, superintendent for facilities and support services. Each of the four district schools Davison Avenue, Maurice W. Downing, Howard T. Herber Middle School and Malverne High has its own tailor-made evacuation plan, on file in the principal-s office. It-s a good practice, Freeley said. We have to take threats seriously. And by law, we must evacuate.
Students said they were unaware of the threat until Good addressed them in the Herber auditorium. Some began feverishly dialing their parents on cell phones, a source said, despite the faculty-s discouraging them from doing so, to prevent a stream of cars from descending on the school.
After the initial shock, a wave of elation swept over the students. Everyone was happy they were missing class, said junior Amourelle Corley.
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