From: Mellon Middle School [mailto:noreply@mtlsd.net]
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2015 12:00 PM
To: Mellon Middle School Parent
Subject: Mellon Middle School Incident
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2015 12:00 PM
To: Mellon Middle School Parent
Subject: Mellon Middle School Incident
Mellon Families:
On March 23, 2015, a student reported to Mellon Middle School staff / administration that a note was found in the 3rd floor girls’ bathroom that read, “There is a bomb here.” The incident was immediately referred to the Mt. Lebanon Police Department. After the initial investigation, the MLPD and school administration deemed the incident not to be a credible threat.
I informed school staff, asked them to be aware of the situation and to immediately report any information they may receive in regard to the incident. Staff members have been asked to be extra visible and vigilant in the hallways. We continue to investigate the incident in an effort to identify the responsible individual(s). Should you hear any information that you feel may be relevant to our investigation, please contact me.
Sincerely,
Christopher Wolfson
Principal
412-344-2122
19 comments:
Was the building evacuated? I hope so. How about the Allegheny County Bomb Squad? What did they say about it?
Those are excellent, spot-on questions 6:59 AM. No indication either occurred but probably should have.
Were the Lebo corn cops on site spreading corn balls in hopes of luring bomb threat suspects? There have to be a lot of left over corn balls.
Those damn deer did it.
6:59----No the building was not evacuated and students were not informed. Confirmed that the Allegheny County Bomb Squad was NOT called. Just another hush-hush, let's keep it secret day in Mt. Lebo. (Heard that the MLPD was called. Kids are saying that they saw no officers in the building.)
10:47 This is not a popular notion, I know, but is it possible that the police are trained for this and didn't have to turn this into a hysterical incident (which is probably what the person who wrote the note wanted)?
From a School Security and Safety firm:
"The best practice, supported by federal law enforcement explosives experts, is for schools and police to assess threats rather than automatically evacuating schools. Many schools across the nation do not automatically evacuate their schools upon receiving a bomb threat. Decisions and protocols on these issues should be determined by school officials and their public safety (police, fire, etc.) partners as a part of their emergency planning process and prior to an actual incident.
In general, the best practice followed by most school and public safety officials is to evaluate each incident on a case-by-case basis and determine whether to evacuate accordingly."
Agreed 11:24 pm. Though it is our right to question (and we've seen plenty of dullards in our local government), we must remember that MOST of the time the people in charge are intelligent caring people who have spent many years in school for their careers. They are professionals with plans. If you would like to know the strategies the district and police use for these situations I'm sure there is an administrator that would answer your questions. It was also probably is the student handbook you are given, or provided online. Not everything is a dramatic plot by evil unethical higher-ups...though the commission is a poor example of my argument =P
11:49 am You would be better off looking for scholar input on how to handle school violence threats than input from a "security and safety firm". These firms do not work off of evidence-based research. They just want to make money.
I agree that you don't need a squad for every bomb threat, though.
I don't think that the lack of safety measures at the Mellon bomb threat was the result of evil, unethical higher-ups.I think the lack of due diligence was due to sheer stupidity of the part of the MTLSD.
How many Mellon parents stormed Wolfson's office yesterday upon receiving his email about the bomb threat? Or, are the parents just oblivious in Mt. Lebo?
12:13 I'm sorry, why was the MTLSD stupid? They called the police who, presumably, made the call not to evacuate or draw unnecessary attention to this "threat". Due to the fact that Mellon appears to still be standing - I only drove by the front - I'd hazard to guess that the police made the right call.
As for parents storming the building, I'll save that for when they actually screw up. It won't be long.
While I'm not a big advocate of panicking every time something comes up, but wasn't "how would you feel if we didn't do something about the deer and someone died in an accident with one" a prime excuse for launching the deer cull?
So wouldn't the same apply in a bomb threat? "How would you feel the school wasn't evacuated and a bomb did detonate and children were killed?
Just askin'.
12:13---Experts are always correct in hind sight. As to why the MTLSD is stupid, please re-read Mr. Wolfon's email to Mellon families, located on this blog. Dah.
I misspelled Wolfson in my previous comment.
Science
http://www.amazon.com/Guidelines-Responding-Student-Threats-Violence/dp/1593185022
1:29 If it was poor logic for the deer cull, why wouldn't it be poor logic for an evacuation. I'm not an expert or a police apologist (they may have very well done something, nay, everything wrong in this instance), but the fact is that the people yelling and screaming don't know that. They just feel angry.
1:55 I think we'll just have to agree to disagree. I don't see what the school should have done differently after involving the police.
I think that one must review the MTLSD written policies and procedures regarding such a threat and determine if they were followed.
Does anyone know where we might find those written policies and procedures? They are not in the student handbook or at the on-line MTLSD web-site.
3:23 I was merely trying to point out that every little in the world isn't resolved by on/off, black/white solutions.
Deer management in Lebo doesn't mean we need to kill every deer or let everyone go.
Same with the bomb threat. Handling the problem doesn't require emptying the school or ignoring the threat.
It appears the police and principal made the right decision this time.
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