Lex Valluzzi, Staff Writer
In Marlboro Memorial Middle School, New Jersey, students and students of the Trenton School District awoke to find their school closed for the day. The middle school, which has a population of over 5,000 students, had a staff member report a concerning email to New Jersey police containing a bomb threat for multiple school districts including the Board of Education building and many more. The email stated the locations of the bombs across all buildings.
The school day started off with a two-hour delay for all students who attended public schools in the threatened districts before the police ultimately decided to close for the day. The town halls of Marlboro and Trenton were also closed for the day but have since reopened. Buildings currently in use at the time of the threats have been evacuated for safety purposes. All school districts involved had received emails over the span of several days leading up to their closing.
Local New Jersey police have done bomb sweeps of the public schools, the Board of Education building, and other buildings in the area. Police have deemed that the threats are of low credibility and the risk is low. However, the FBI has been called in to do additional sweeps with canine units and to open an investigation on the incident. Nothing has been discovered since law enforcement agencies have begun their search.
“Although we are dealing with another non credible threat, the district takes any instance of this nature seriously and will continue to work closely with law enforcement to provide safety and security for the entire school community,” stated the superintendent for the district. The superintendent made this statement to the press after releasing the information that the public schools who have dealt with the threat will be reopened the following Friday. The school day is set to operate as usual, but with an increased police presence. All school buses and other public schools in the area are also subject to be searched.
Rumors have been circulating about whether the threats had anything to do with an argument less than two days before the threats were received between the parent of a student at the middle school and a teacher regarding sexual misconduct. The superintendent, as well as staff at Marlboro Memorial Middle School, have neglected to address this rumor. The Board of Education staff members have also declined to comment. All questions are being forwarded to Marlboro police, Trenton police, or homeland security.
The investigation is currently ongoing, but as for now the safety of students and staff members has been declared their number one priority.
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