SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Parents, educators, and law enforcement are raising concerns following a rise in school hoax threats, the most recent one took place Thursday morning.
Springfield officials provide update on surge of school hoax threats Fourteen–That’s how many school hoax threats have been reported within Springfield Public Schools since the start of the new school year. Community leaders are now asking parents to check in with their children.
“If you see something out of the ordinary, if you hear something out of the ordinary, even if it’s your friend, they need help if they are doing anything crazy like that,” says Maureen Peeler of West Springfield.
Thursday at around 2 a.m., Facebook’s security team contacted Springfield police about a bomb threat targeting Chestnut Middle School. Officers identified the threat as a hoax and arrested a 14-year-old boy that morning. “We’ve reached a tipping point and again we don’t want any students arrested but I think at this point we need to have zero tolerance on this,” says Adam Fenn Director of Safety & Security for Springfield Public Schools.
They say personnel was sent to the school’s campus Thursday morning to ensure it was a false alarm. A 14-year-old boy remains in custody. This comes a day after a 9-year-old boy called in a fake report about an active shooter at Springfield Public Day Elementary on Wednesday. According to Springfield police, that call came from a person’s phone at the school. They say a 9-year-old boy took someone’s phone and made the fake threat. Springfield Police Superintendent Lawrence Akers says officers were able to use the school’s security cameras Wednesday to investigate that threat.
“We were in there before we sent officers in there to see that there was no crime and it ended up being a hoax call which changed the direction of our investigation”, says Springfield Police Superintendent Lawrence Akers. “This was one of those cases in which we were able to utilize those cameras that we were in there before we sent officers in there to see that there was no crime and it ended up being a hoax call which changed the direction of our investigation.”
Springfield Schools Superintendent Sonia E. Dinnall told 22News, “Each and every student will be held accountable has been held accountable for the harm and the disruption they have caused to the learning environment.”
Parents finding out about the hoax threats say it all starts at home. “You need to have control of how much social media your children in you know digest they need to be outside or you spending time with the kids or reading drawing painting anything.”
Springfield police say a zero-tolerance policy will be enforced for all threats — as they continue to impact the safety of students and staff.
Local News Headlines
WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WWLP.
Local News
Comments / 0