WILMINGTON, MA – Wilmington School Superintendent Mary DeLai published her weekly blog post on Saturday, explaining how the district handles bomb threats and other threats made against its schools. Read DeLai’s blog post HERE or below.
As many of you know, over the past several months, schools across Massachusetts have been the victim of bomb threats that have frustrated administrators and public safety personnel and heightened the anxiety of students, parents, and staff. Unfortunately, disruption and chaos are exactly the reaction that the perpetrators of these hoaxes are seeking. The fear and anxiety they create fuels their unlawful behavior.
Over the past several weeks, Wilmington Public Schools have received three separate threats – two at Wilmington High School and one at the Shawsheen Elementary School. This is not the first time that we have had to deal with bomb threats. Last year, both Wilmington Middle School and Wilmington High School were the target of threats. Even in years past, schools have experienced similar threats but the frequency of these hoaxes has increased dramatically over the past several years.
Understandably, we have received a number of inquiries about how we make decisions as to how to respond to these threats. Why do some districts evacuate when a threat comes in while some districts do not? Why do you lock down in some instances but shelter in place in others? Why do parents receive emails after the threat has been investigated as opposed to as soon as the threat is received. We understand your concerns and, for that reason, we chose to focus on this topic in this week’s blog post.
Perhaps the most important thing to let families know is that the first thing that each and every school administrator does upon receiving a threat is to contact our local public safety officials who respond immediately. School administrators then contact the Superintendent or her designee. Collaboratively, public safety officers, school administration, and the Superintendent engage in a threat assessment process using protocols provided to us by experts at the State Police and Department of Fire Services.
Equally important is that we take each and every threat seriously. Every threat is unique and all circumstances are evaluated by the threat assessment team based on the information available. We have all been trained on how to assess threats. When we convene the team, our task is to assess whether we are facing a low, medium, or high risk threat. The level of threat informs the response. We do not and cannot share publicly the criteria by which we evaluate threat levels, but suffice it to say we have clear and specific guidance to assist us in this decision making process.
If a threat is assessed to be “Low Risk”, then we may decide not to evacuate the building as we don’t want to reward the perpetrator’s threatening behavior. In some cases, we may not evacuate because the threat references shooters outside of the building. In all cases, however, we will conduct a search inside the building and a scan of parking areas adjacent to the building. If the threat is assessed to be moderate or high risk, partial or full evacuation might be appropriate, depending on the information contained in the message.
While I do not say this to imply complacency on our part, there has never been a case in Massachusetts where a bomb threat resulted in a device being found. Public safety experts contend that if someone wanted to do harm to students, they would likely not give us advance notice. The sad and tragic history of school shootings bears this out.
With respect to the timing of notification, we understand that with the prevalence of cell phones among students, parents may receive information from students ahead of our communication with parents. However, experience has shown that when parents are notified during an event, even when instructed otherwise, a significant number end up showing up at the school. This not only creates logistical chaos if we actually had to evacuate a school, but also puts additional people in harm’s way in the event of a true emergency situation.
We remain hopeful that the Massachusetts State Police and the Commonwealth Fusion Center will be able to identify the perpetrators of these crimes. In the meantime, we hope that this post helps parents and families to recognize that we do have strong systems and protocols in place for assessing and addressing threats to our schools. We should also recognize that Wilmington is fortunate in that we were the first district in Massachusetts to implement the very forward thinking ALiCE protocols for responding to school threats. We are also one of a small but growing number of districts that have controlled access to our buildings using key card systems. Our community has made significant investments of time and money to ensure our schools are as safe as possible.
As Superintendent of Schools, I place the safety and security of our students and staff at the very top of my list of priorities. I am saddened by the fact that these threats divert our energies from the more important work of educating students. But, as is the case with so much of our work, the actions of the few who seek to disrupt the good work we do only strengthens our resolve. While we cannot know or prevent what harm may befall our students from those outside our school community, we remain resolute in our efforts to promote healthy and positive school climates and to build the resilience and social competence of our students to ensure that they are prepared for the complex, connected, and diverse society which they will help mold and shape over their lifetimes. After all, the only way that we as educators can truly prevent the threat of school violence is to teach empathy and tolerance for all.
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