Parents Livid After Being Kept in the Dark About School Shooting Threat
Parents gave a New York City middle school an F for communication after learning that they were among the last to know about social media threats posted by a student at the school.
Last Wednesday, a student at Robert F. Wagner junior high school on New York City’s Upper East Side posted an Instagram photo of two guns, the New York Post reported.
The post, laden with angry emojis, was captioned, “See you guys tomorrow.”
Although the post eventually was determined to be a hoax, parents were livid because they were not informed at the time.
“In these times, you have to take this seriously,” said parent Terry Davis, who only learned about the threat from a reporter. “This is dangerous.”
The school’s response to the photo was an email to parents that did not tell them about the post, which showed a 9-mm. handgun and a semi-automatic rifle with a silencer.
Principal Jennifer Rehn Losquadro told parents that nothing was wrong.
“We are informing you about an alleged comment regarding safety. All students and staff are safe, no instruction was interrupted, and the school followed protocol in its response,” she wrote Thursday.
The image and threat were posted again Thursday night, which is when the police were notified.
Amid rumors that resulted in parents taking students out of the school for the day, Losquadro emailed parents on Friday.
Middle school parents say they were kept in the dark about Instagram gun threat https://t.co/099GLGkzXj pic.twitter.com/4mT4l0Ot0E
— New York Post (@nypost) January 13, 2019
“We want to inform you that there was a separate post on social media last night. The post was immediately reported to NYPD who are investigating the source and as a result you may notice the NYPD presence in and around our school,” her email said.
On Friday, police officers were positioned around the school. Students were forced to come and go using only the school’s front entrance.
Police investigated the post and found out that it was harmless.
“Detectives interviewed the mother and child and determined that the post was a hoax and the photo was taken from the internet,” a police spokesperson said.
The Post reported that it was told by students at the school that the student who posted the image is “always in trouble.”
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