A bomb threat discovered written on the wall in a boys' bathroom at Ridgefield High School today turned out to be a hoax, according to a message from RHS Principal Stacey Gross.
"It was investigated by school administration and by the Ridgefield Police Department," she wrote. "At this time, we do not feel it is a credible threat and no school or afterschool activities have been canceled."
Gross said this is not the first time the high school has been the target of an unfounded bomb threat.
"Each time in the past few years, the threat has coincided with the release of a popular video game and when investigated the police deemed the building to be safe," she wrote. "Today’s threat is also consistent with this pattern, as the new video game will be released at midnight."
The video game Gross referred to is Call of Duty: Black Ops II. The video game is graphic and has a rating of Mature, ages 17 and over.
"It is unfortunate that this behavior occurred," Gross said, "but we felt it was important to thoroughly investigate the incident in order to better ensure the safety of our students and staff. Please feel free to contact me at 203-438-3785 if you have any additional questions."
May i ask what you would do if you were in charge of that decision of when to inform? What you consider the consequences of your decisions, and the options available. Thanks
I take it your parents were unsuccessful bitter people? is it fair to make any conclusions about levels of comfort here? Have you scoured police and court records to determine a correlation between bomb threat pranks, those in jail or prison, and well to do parents spoiling these criminals? Or do you just automatically default to this stance? If someone would say " probably a kid from affordable housing with no proper parental guidance, would you find that reasonable?
Maybe you don't have to clear the building, but you need to do something. I think this should take the form of getting the police to fingerprint the wall. It is not possible to write on a wall without leaning on the wall. So there are prints present. RPD should go in and get them. They should send 5 police cars, sirens blaring. They should put yellow police tape on the entire school corridor involved. They should have several people going in and out of the building carrying evidence bags, especially when students are in the hallways between classes. In other words, they should make a big todo about it. All while getting the fingerprints. Then the school should send a note to the students and parents pointing out the fingerprints have been taken and even if a match isn't in the files today, there will be a hit on those prints at some point in the future, whether it's a year from now or 10 years from now. Soon enough, every employer will fingerprint new employees. There will be a match on those prints one day. And then the culprit is facing 20 years in prison. Do this and there will be no more bomb threats at RHS. But you can't just sit on your thumbs and do nothing.
Yellow tape! At least someone is thinking! Fingerprints! Cops never think of these things. These are awesome ideas. I just hope the detectives read patch! God help us all, if they dont.
I don't need to convene an elaborate statistical analysis of criminal behavior to formulate an opinion of the typical RHS student; I went to RHS schools for 12 years, so I have extensive, relatively recent experience in this realm. Maybe you could tell us about the log cabin you were educated in. Or did I hear Ivy League? Ironic considering 90% of the people you debate on these forums steamroll you.
The most unfortunate thing is that I generally agree with your posts. Unfortunately, your posts are usually so poorly worded, disorganized, and hair-brained that the idea behind your writing gets lost within the literary train wrecks that you routinely subject readers of this forum to. Every now and then, we all pick fights we shouldn't have. Why don't you let this one go, lest I need to verbally lambaste you again on these pages.
Im thinking the cops and school admin made the right call...so ill trust them to know more than i do. Thats the point.
A bomb scare prank that was determined, after the fact, to pose no danger to the students, and was summarily dismissed by the investigating police force and school administrators, has some people second guessing the moves. When asked what they should do differently, most do not answer, but one person suggests fingerprinting . Ok--? So that of course does not address the correct decision to keep it quiet. Which , curious suggested "you have to do something!" The only alternative in this incident, appears to be evacuating the school and dismissing the kids early--getting bus transportation-that most likely was not available to homes that may not have parents home all within the confines of the police determination that it was not a credible threat. To inform the students that a bomb threat existed? How does that help? I just never quite understand , how people raise their objection flag, but have no viable solution to what should have happened. To say "something should have happened, ' means what? Again--Im all ears as to what should happen next time the police learn of a non-credible threat at various schools-- but it doesnt seem as though anyone here has a great idea--other than to say " we should have been informed" -and then what? panic?
It burns my butt to reread some of the assinine naysayer comments posted in this thread. Some insightful people made the suggestion that when there is a threat, it shouldn't be offhandedly dismissed as a meaningless prank. But others mock the idea of following through to protect our children. And look where we are just one month later. Shameful behavior by some posters here. To the school system, maybe you should revisit this bomb scare incident and put in more effort to find out who did it. Doing nothing is no longer an option.