The Mahwah school district issued an alert Friday about a threat received in October that specified a date this month
A threat made by a Mahwah student four months ago “to shoot up” a middle school on a specific date in February has caused a community uproar about notification policies after the superintendent sent out an alert Friday.
Councilman James Wysocki said some parents received a vague alert about the threat in October, but a district-wide message was not sent until after the shooting in Parkland, Florida last week that claimed 17 lives.
“To my understanding, something was sent out in October, but not a majority of parents or school kids got it,” Wysocki said. “We are supposed to be in charge of a town. If the tragedy in Florida didn’t happen, would we have been advised of it?”
Mahwah schools Superintendent C. Lauren Schoen sent a message to parents Friday saying that a student made a threat in October about Ramapo Ridge Middle School and specified a date of Feb. 23.
The threat was reported at the time to the Mahwah police and officers conducted an investigation that included meeting with the student and the student’s parents several times, Schoen said.
The superintendent sent out another statement to parents on Saturday apologizing for the timing of the announcement after parents and local officials complained about the gap between the incident and the notification, according to Wysocki.
Mayor Bill Laforet released a statement Saturday saying “I am greatly troubled that neither the Township Council or myself were ever apprised of the threat made by an eighth-grade student several months ago concerning a Township school facility.”
Laforet asked the Mahwah police chief to assign a uniformed, armed patrol officer to each township school.
“Our residents deserve better,” Laforet said.
Schoen said in Friday’s letter to parents that Mahwah police will have officers present in the school “throughout the entire day” on Friday, the date of the threat made in October.
The student was removed from the school for the remainder of the school year, Schoen said.
District officials didn’t immediately respond to a message from NJ Advance Media seeking additional information on Monday, when schools are closed for Presidents Day.
Alexis Johnson may be reached at ajohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @alexisjreports. Find her on Facebook.
http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2018/02/mahwah_school_district_backlash_told_parents_about.html