By Dana Williams
According to Nassau County police, the high school received a voice mail message at 7 a.m., a male voice saying that a bomb would be planted in the building sometime during the week. School officials immediately contacted police, and the district’s Emergency Plan was put into effect, which included canceling classes for the day and evacuating both schools. The two schools are connected by a breezeway.
High school students were transferred to Cornwell Avenue Elementary School, and middle school students were sent to George Washington Elementary School. Island Park students were taken home, school officials said. Classes resumed in the high school and middle school the following day.
The Nassau County police canine unit found no explosives or suspicious objects during a nearly two-hour sweep of the building last Tuesday. The searches, police said, continued each morning throughout the week before students arrived.
School officials also stepped up security in the wake of the threat, inspecting students’ bags, adding security patrols around the two-school campus and suspending open campus lunch privileges for seniors, among other precautions. The security measures will continue until further notice, officials said.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our students and those who work in our buildings,” Superintendent John Hogan said in a statement. “Both the high school and middle school had 92 percent of their students in attendance [March 4]. That figure is just about normal for any given day.”
The bomb threat also prompted school officials to cancel sports practices, meetings and other after-school activities until March 5, and close the building to community groups until last Sunday. Hogan said that students were reminded each day after classes resumed that there would be consequences if another bomb threat occurs. “Students have also been informed that should additional instructional time be lost, it may have to be made up by taking days from [their] spring recess,” Hogan said.
School administrators, teachers and staff held a total of seven formal and several informal meetings last week to discuss ways to enhance the district’s Emergency Plan. “Every observation has been listened to and taken seriously, and suggestions have been noted for possible revisions of our plan where needed,” Hogan explained. “The districtwide safety committee will meet in the near future to discuss and review possible changes.”
Nassau County police detectives are continuing their investigation of the threat, and ask anyone who may have information to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 244-8477 or e-mail crimestoppers@pdcn.org.
Comments about this story? DWilliams@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 205.
