By Dennis Hoey
Portland Press Herald
PORTLAND, Maine — Another threatening message was found in a city school this week, but police said it did not warrant the type of response that forced lockdowns at Lyman Moore Middle School and Portland High School last month.
A message found Wednesday morning on a bathroom stall at Portland High indicated there was a bomb in the school, set to detonate at 11:04 a.m. But part of the message didn’t make sense.
It said the bomb would go off on Wednesday, Jan. 10 - one month earlier than the actual date.
Police and school officials discussed the threat and determined it was not credible and did not warrant disrupting school with a lockdown, an evacuation or a search of backpacks. ''We didn’t feel the threat rose to that level,’' said police Capt. Vern Malloch.
The discussion was part of Portland’s new protocol for dealing with threats of violence that are made in schools. The new approach was adopted after four lockdowns at Lyman Moore and Portland High last month disrupted students’ learning and irritated and frightened many parents.
In response to each of those threatening messages, the schools were automatically locked down, with students remaining in their classrooms while the schools were searched.
''We feel very fortunate the Portland police have been so supportive and have worked very carefully with us to develop a protocol for dealing with these types of situations,’' said Assistant Superintendent Jill Blackwood.
Alison Andreason, whose son is a sophomore at Portland High, was caught in the first high school lockdown. She was taking yearbook photographs when school officials ordered everyone into their classrooms. She went into a classroom as well.
''I thought it was well done. It was not panicked. It was obvious who was in control,’' Andreason said.
She said she feels confident that the new system of handling threats has been thought out well.
Michael Johnson, principal of Portland High, told parents about the latest threat in a letter sent home with students Thursday.
Because of the threat, Johnson said, he temporarily had all of the school’s bathrooms locked, except for the two behind the main office. Students who have to use those bathrooms must sign in and sign out. Johnson also shut down the cafeteria, except during breakfast and lunch periods.
''As you know, this is not the way Portland High does business, and I am sorry to have to share this with you,’' Johnson wrote in the letter. ''The students in this school are wonderful people, and the misguided students that are responsible for these acts are an extremely small minority.’'
William Weber, who has two sons, a freshman and a senior, at Portland High, said he trusts ''the professionals and the faculty to make the right decision. I am not going to try to second-guess them’’ about their response to threats.
On Jan. 27, the high school was locked down after a note indicating that a student had a gun was found in a bathroom. Portland police have said the threat was most likely a hoax prompted by the incidents at Lyman Moore.
A seventh-grade boy at Lyman Moore admitted to writing one of the notes found at that school. Police have said they believe at least two of the threats at the middle school were ''copycat’’ pranks.
Blackwood said the district is required to notify Maine Education Commissioner Susan Gendron about any threats made at public schools. A copy of the notification for Wednesday’s incident was made available to the Portland Press Herald.
In it, Portland school officials said the message was found around 7:45 a.m. Police officers, the principal and Superintendent Jim Morse deemed the message ''nonthreatening.’'
The threat apparently was written the previous afternoon, Malloch, the police captain, said in an interview Thursday.
Officials told Gendron that the ''school day proceeded normally without any interruption to teaching or learning.’'
Blackwood said that after the third lockdown at Lyman Moore, Morse and police Cmdr. Mike Sauschuck held a student assembly and explained the consequences of threatening violence in a public school. There have been no threats at Lyman Moore since then.
''A high school student should realize that this sort of thing is taken very seriously, and that the older you are the more likely the consequences will be severe,’' Blackwood said. ''You may end up dealing with the courts, not a school disciplinary action.’'
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