By: Jeff Lipton
Handwriting expert zasked to identify message writer
A handwriting analyst was trying to determine who wrote a threat to bomb the Woodmere Middle School last week, officials said, and the person responsible for the scare could face criminal charges. At minimum, an immediate suspension from school would be levied if the writer, as suspected, turned out to be a student.
Police were placed on full alert after the message "I will bomb the school on Friday" was found scribbled in a lavatory on Tuesday, March 20.
The writing in pencil was discovered by a student at about 2:30 p.m. on the window ledge in the first-floor boys' bathroom of the school, at 1170 Peninsula Blvd., Hewlett, officials said. School administrators were notified and, before students arrived for class the following day, police and detectives conducted a room-by-room sweep of the building and did not find any explosive device. Other searches were made at 7 p.m. Thursday and 7 a.m. Friday, March 23, when class was not in session because it was set aside for parent-teacher conferences.
A student is believed to be responsible "for the disturbing statement," said Claudette Tableman, the school's principal. The names of three students came up most often during interviews of 50 students conducted by administrators, school officials said. After the three students were questioned, detectives and administrators determined they had nothing to do with the threat.
"The situation is under control," Tableman said last Thursday. "There is no reason to believe anyone is in danger."
The principal said she believes the message was scrawled in the bathroom on the same day it was found. She added that a handwriting analyst was brought in to determine who authored the threat. If a student is found to have written the note, he or she will be suspended from school immediately for at least a day and the matter will be turned over to police for possible criminal charges, officials said.
Letters addressed to parents were sent home with students on Wednesday, March 21. Some parents said they were angry that parents were not notified immediately after the message was discovered.
"This lack of communication is horrendous," said one parent, who kept her son out of school on Thursday. "My son is very scared, very frightened to be there."
Another parent, who sent her daughter to school Thursday, said she was not as concerned because she believed the threat was a prank.
The incident came two weeks after a threat at Lawrence High School on March 7, when a 15-year-old student told one or more other students that he felt "like using guns against people, killing people" at the high school. School officials and police investigated that threat and determined it to be a "silly joke." No disciplinary action was taken against the student.
Since violent acts at schools have been reported in California and elsewhere, officials have received increased reports of threats at schools on Long Island.
"Regrettably, the times in which we live, I am not surprised there has been so much attention to the issue," said Dr. Charles Fowler, Hewlett-Woodmere School District superintendent. "Certainly, children are aware of it, and [a threat at school] can and will happen in almost any school district at one point or another."
Inspector George Gudmundsen, commanding officer of the Fourth Precinct, said "999 out of 1,000 of these are just threats, but police officials have to treat each one seriously.
He said specially-trained bomb-sniffing dogs from the K-9 Unit of the Highway Patrol Bureau were brought to Woodmere Middle School last Thursday night to do a thorough search of the building and grounds.
"When there have been threats reported recently, it usually gives rise to similar threats that are brought forth," Gudmundsen said. "It is very stressful and draining for the school district and the police department.
"We will do whatever we have to in order to help Superintendent Fowler ensure the safety of the students, teachers and school district," Gudmundsen added.
Principal Tableman said police, in their search of the building, did not feel that it was necessary to go through the lockers or search the crawl spaces or ceiling tiles. When she originally asked for bomb-sniffing dogs to be brought in during the initial search of the building, she was told they couldn't bring the dogs in because there were not enough available. The dogs have been kept busy investigating other threats in Nassau County and required a certain amount of rest to be effective, she was told by county police.
"The children have been wonderful through this whole thing," Tableman said. "They have been calm and cooperative."
The principal said she has asked the district for heightened security at the school.
In her letter to parents, Tableman said, "I believe that Woodmere Middle School is a safe haven for our school community, but find myself inevitably caught up in all of the understandable concerns which have followed the Columbine H.S., Santana H.S. and other incidents."
She said guidance counselors and psychologists are available to speak with any students who have questions or concerns.
Fowler said the person responsible for the written threat may have done it to draw attention or cause a disruption in the school. "This can cause a great deal of disruption in the school, and usually the student ends up bragging to fellow students that they did it," he said. "It's a matter that can easily lead to incarceration."
