By Anthony Rifilato
, which prompted an evacuation of students and staff followed by a police search of the school.
The district said that the suspected student was identified by police and school officials, and that all appropriate disciplinary actions have been taken. The school would not identify the student, and did not say how the student was punished.
No bomb was found at Meadow, needless to say, but the threat there follows two bomb threats earlier this year at other elementary schools in the district: one at Steele in September, and another at Plaza in October. In those cases, however, police did not recommend an evacuation of the buildings. Both of those were written threats found inside the schools, according to the district.
The district was evaluating the evacuation of Meadow last week, and Cristina Schmohl, a spokeswoman for the district said that administrators and school officials are looking into preventive measures.
"This is something to look at and there are measures to implement, including the possibility of grade assemblies," Schmohl said. "It's a very serious situation."
Following the threat, parents were notified about the incident via a phone chain and by having school staff notify parents at Meadow when they came to pick up their kids, according to the district. They were directed to the Middle School, where Meadow students were taken after the
evacuation.
But one parent, who asked to remain anonymous, criticized the district for its handling of the evacuation, saying that a phone chain was not started.
"The parents were confused, upset, crying and scared," the parent said. "The evacuation was disorderly and upsetting to the students who are still feeling the effects of that day."
The parent also said that some parents received the message only after picking up their kids from the Middle School.
"It takes over an hour to complete a 700 person phone chain," the parent said. "A phone chain was never completed in manner or form."
But in an interview with the Herald the day after the evacuation, Schmohl said that the threat was found close to dismissal time, and that the district did its best to notify parents in such a short time frame. Schmohl also said that emergency cards as well as medications students required were also taken, in keeping with standard safety drills.
"We safely evacuated students and staff from Meadow, and safely transferred them to the middle school," Schmohl said. "We safely dismissed all Meadow and middle school students home in a very short
time frame."
