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Administrators learned of the comment shortly after dismissal today, acting Schools Superintendent Roy McCourt said tonight in a robo-call to parents.
- UPDATE: An 18-year-old senior at Westwood Junior-Senior High School is hospitalized under police custody, and at least one weapon has been seized, in connection with threats made about retaliation by a bullied student against others. READ MORE….
District administrators and police “contacted the parents of several students who needed to be questioned regarding the alleged comments,” McCourt said. “And although the nature of the threat did not indicate an immediate danger to the school, extra precautionary measures were taken.”
A Washington Township police officer immediately responded to the school and remained stationed at the entrance, he said, adding that all students “not participating in an approved practice or club activity were sent home, our hallways were gated and all exterior doors were locked.”
Additional township officers were joined by their counterparts from Westwood “to aid in the investigation and provide an increased police presence in the building,” McCourt said.
“We have taken necessary steps to ensure the safety of students, including, but not limited to, working with township police to have an increased police presence in the school for the remainder of the week,” the acting superintendent said.
“Particularly in light of what happened last Friday in Connecticut, we felt it important that you know the exra precautionary steps we took today to secure our school, as well as our reason for doing so.”
Uniformed township and Westwood police have been at all of the district’s schools all week and planned to continue through Friday, as a result of last Friday’s massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Ct.
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