Parents not told of security breach at Masconomet Regional High School in Boxford
BOXFORD - Parents are angry they were not notified of a security breach at Masconomet Regional High School in Boxford earlier this month. This was first reported by the WBZ-TV I-Team on Friday.
A man wearing a Salem Police Department t-shirt wanted to surprise students and managed to get inside the school through a propped open door on Friday, May 13 at about 11 a.m.
The unidentified man drove a Honda onto school property and parked near a loading dock outside the school, which serves the towns of Boxford, Middleton and Topsfield.
He first told police he wanted to see how much the school changed since he had been a student there. He also wanted to sneak in the same way he used to.
"He wanted to take a walk through the school and see things out because he hadn't been there for decades -- which was absolutely a failure on our part," said Boxford Police Chief James Riter.
A field house door was left propped open by a third-party COVID testing vendor, police said. The man was able to walk into the building past the cafeteria where students were eating lunch.
Police said when they caught up with the man he was escorted out and the school resource officer determined there was no threat.
"Administration made the determination that communication with the school community was not necessary given the specific circumstances of the event," Superintendent Mike Harvey said in a letter to parents on Friday.
"Just disturbing after what happened in Texas that the door is unlocked at our school and somebody could walk right in," said parent Mark Levanites. "Somebody entering the school is a threat to me, it's not a student, it's not a parent, so it's just scary."
Other parents are satisfied with the response.
"From what I've seen, the school was able to assess the threat. If they tried to put kids in lockdown it could have been potentially frightening and disruptive to the school day," said parent Jennifer Brooks.
The school is now reviewing its safety protocol, especially in the wake of the Texas school shooting on May 24.
"It was one of those situations, you try to get it right every time, this time it didn't work correctly and we'll fix it in the future," said Riter.
