C. Milton Wright High School in Bel Air was evacuated Monday morning after the school received a bomb threat by phone. Following an investigation, law enforcement deemed the threat not to be credible, according to Teri Kranefeld, HCPS manager of communications, and students and staff returned to class.
Below is the series of communications from HCPS to C. Milton Wright parents regarding the Monday bomb threat:
11:30 a.m.
“Parents of C. Milton Wright High School, this is Teri Kranefeld, manager of communications calling on behalf of Principal Marlene Molter with an important message. The school received a bomb threat by phone. As a precaution, students and staff were immediately evacuated per our evacuation plan and law enforcement was notified. Students remain safe at this time while the investigation is taking place. As we take all threats seriously, students will remain evacuated until law enforcement gives the all clear for students to return. Once the investigation concludes and students are returned to their classrooms, you will be notified via this phone system. Thank you for your patience as we work through this situation. Again, this is Teri Kranefeld for Principal Marlene Molter.”
12:09 p.m.
“Parents of C. Milton Wright High School, this is Teri Kranefeld calling on behalf of Principal Marlene Molter with an update. The investigation has concluded and law enforcement deemed the bomb threat not to be credible and the building safe. Students are returning to their classrooms at this time. We would like to commend the students for their calm and appropriate behavior as we worked through this situation. Thank you for your attention. Again, this is Teri Kranefeld for Principal Marlene Molter.”
Sounds like some kid had a test they didn’t want to take. Back in the 60’s, high school kids would pull the fire alarm in school which wasn’t too bright, but I guess it got them out of their test. Now I guess they do really stupid things like this that tie up a lot of valuable resources. Idiots.
It’s a shame that kids had to stand outside for 90 minutes, some in gym clothes. Get off your ass and order some buses to the scene you morons. In almost 30 years of Emergency Services every one I’ve been on has been a hoax. Way to drop the ball Board Of Education. You suck!
Even though no one has ever blown up a school in the U.S., you do have to take these things seriously. Having the kids stand outside for 90 minutes is ridiculous. At a minimum, if the kids have a car at the school, they should let the kids and their friends go sit in the car or clear the gym first which is a separate part of the school building and let the kids sit in there.
Actually Andrew Kehoe blew up half of the school in Bath township, MI in 1927. He tried to blow up the whole thing but part of his explosives didn’t go off. It’s usually credited as the deadliest mass murder in a school in United States history. You can find more info by searching “Bath School disaster”.
Wow, you had to go all the way back to 1927 to find a school that was bombed. Just proves that yes while you need to take these things seriously, it is just another kid who didn’t study for a test. Like the guy said, check the gym first and then put all of the kids in the gym while you check the rest of the school. Problem solved.
The problem is that the K9 or EOD team can’t be there instantly, and checking a building the size of a school (especially a high school) takes a significant amount of time, even if you’re just clearing the gym and cafeteria (gathering all of the students in the gym would probably violate fire code). Do you leave the students in the school while waiting for the rally location to be cleared, risking the threat being true, or do you move to one (randomly selected) of several planned rally locations to foil any plan to prepare the sole gathering spot and let the set-in-stone response plan bring the students to the ambush.
Like the guys said, the last school bomb in the US was in 1927. Not much of a pattern, huh?
1974 Kanawha County, two elementary schools and the school board building were bombed.
Bath was just the deadliest.
The issue is not when the last successful one was but how many are stopped as well as what would happen if we stopped treating them seriously. It could be open season.
You cannot let them sit in their cars or order busses… You need to keep them in classes so that they are all accounted for… The first kid that gets in a car and gets hurt, or god forbid into something else would be someone’s head! Get over it 90 minutes outside, that is a small price to pay for safety of children
Do you keep your children locked in a padded room?
I try to as much as possible!!
Dah, they are accounted for when the all clear is given and they can return to class. So how is a kid going to get hurt sitting in his car. You are probably one of these parents that babies their kids. I always preferred to teach mine responsibility. 90 minutes outside in gym shorts and a t-shirt in 30 degree weather is not healthy or safe.
Friend A has cigerettes in car friend B takes up smoking……Worse yet the driver leaves and gets into an accident. You need to know where the kids are.
Worse yet, a kid falls over and because they are all lined up so close together, they all fall down like dominoes and 500 kids get hurt and now we really do have an emergency. Please, where does this nanny state stop. Give me a break. Maybe your kids should have been brought up with good values and taught repsonsibility like mine. This happened at my kids school once and my son and his friends sat in their car in the parking lot, kept warm in the 20 degree weather and just texted and listened to music. When the all clear was given, they went back to class.
Worse yet, all the kids sit in idling cars causing increase emissions and O-zone deterioration causing Global Warming creating a world wide emergency for Earth.
Whenever my high school had a bomb threat, the students were required to sit close together on the bleachers in the football stadium. The administration did not appreciate when I said if someone wanted to hurt a lot of people, he’d put a bomb under the bleachers and call in a threat on the building.
We had to regularly wait outside 2+ hours for any threat, as our county’s sheriff’s office did not have their own K9, and PG County was the nearest department willing to rent a K9 + officer to us on a per-incident basis. The BoE was always pissed about how much they charged for the service whenever their services were required.
Most of us actually didn’t mind, we were kind of chilly but it gave us a chance to hang out with our friends, and I think it is a good idea to keep us there and not in cars, just a student, speaking his mind.