“How do we stop this?” asked Princeton Public Schools Superintendent Steve Cochrane.
That is the big question for the schools and the Police Department after a series of bomb threats over the past two weeks that have disrupted classes at Littlebrook Elementary, Princeton High School, and, most recently, John Witherspoon Middle School.
Students, teachers, parents, administrators, and police officials share feelings of frustration and anxiety in the face of what Princeton Police Chief Nick Sutter calls “acts of terrorism.” “The motivation is to disrupt,” Mr. Sutter explained, “to cause fear and anxiety, to scare people and disrupt our lives. These incidents are random and widespread across the entire country.”
PHS drama teacher Pat Wray voiced the consternation felt by many, inside and outside the schools. “The swatting actually started last spring and was scary for the students and staff,” she recalled. “Now that it’s happening again and regularly, it is a huge disruption to educational instruction and there is the danger that lockdown and evacuation procedures may become mundane.”
Last Wednesday’s swatting was similar to recent incidents. At 10:45 a.m. the main office at John Witherspoon received a computer-generated recorded phone message warning that there was a bomb in the school.
The Princeton Police Department responded immediately to investigate. Students and staff were evacuated. State Police and Mercer County Sheriff Department K-9 officers with five dogs conducted a thorough search of the school. No bomb was found.
Students and staff returned to the school at approximately 1:10 p.m., as Princeton Police officers remained in the school area throughout the day.
Cooperation between the schools and the Police Department has been continuous and increasingly extensive, with Mr. Cochrane and Mr. Sutter in communication daily.
Sharing the feelings of exasperation of school and community members, Mr. Sutter said, “As frustrating as this is, safety has to be the number one priority. If there’s any question of the legitimacy of the threat, we have to err on the side of safety.”
In response to students, school staff, and parents (like the mother of two who wrote to Town Topics this week seeking clarification on Police Department plans for “assessing and reacting to these calls” and plans for “minimiz[ing] disruptions”), Mr. Sutter, himself the father of three young children, expressed his concern: ”I extend my understanding and sympathy to what everybody is going through. I’m going through it myself.”
“Our detectives are working with the faculty and staff,” he continued. “We have detectives assigned to work with federal and state colleagues. The good part of that is that we’re pooling resources. We are communicating with police departments across the country. We’re throwing everything we can at this.”
Mr. Cochrane emphasized the focused, positive collaboration with the Police Department, as the School District seeks a calm, rational, balanced response and antidote to the rash of swatting.
“There has been progress,” Mr. Cochrane stated. “A narrowing of the focus on where these calls are originating. This has been frustrating and anxiety-producing for all of us. We working together to try and find a resolution to this problem.”