Security Beefed Up At North Bergen High School After Threatening Message Found
NORTH BEGERN, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Authorities were taking no chances Friday after a threatening message was found at North Bergen High School.
The school's 2,800 students were subject to a metal detector search and were not be allowed to bring backpacks on campus after a teacher found a note written on a desk that said "gonna shoot up the school on 6/6/14.''
The threat turned out to be nothing, but the school district took no chance, CBS 2's Scott Rapoport reported.
"We're going to take every threat as if it's real," Superintendent George Solter said. "We don't think it's credible, but we're not going to make that decision."
Students had to remove everything from their lockers on Thursday and police dogs swept the building, including classrooms and lockers.
"We're not going to let our guard down," Solter said. "We're going to make sure that every student who walks through that building is safe and secure."
Some students found the precautions too extreme.
"I think they're like laughing right now because of what they're doing to the entire school," said 11th grader Alia Ibrahim. "Like this is crazy. These are a lot of books that we have to carry and bring back and school's over next week. Like it's so unnecessary."
But others said they were glad the school was taking the threat seriously.
"To have all this extra security, nobody's gonna get hurt," junior Jeovanny Rivera said.
"I'm glad they're taking the precautions that they are just in case something really does happen," added student Grace Valentin. "We have to be prepared, we can't take a chance."
Despite the school's efforts, many parents were still on edge.
"I don't think we should have had the school open today," one parent said. "I think they should have closed the school."
Teacher's aide Joan Davison disagreed.
"The precautions are awesome. Everybody's on top of everything. Every child should feel safe coming to school," Davison said.
Solter said the district will use the incident to remind students that the threat, even if it's a joke, carries serious consequences.
School officials said the security scanning would continue for the rest of the school year. Students were to be allowed to use their book bags and lockers again on Monday, Rapoport reported.
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