Tweet
Possible school shooting prevented
************************
March 13, 2008
Stroudsburg Area School District placed its schools on modified lockdown following threats that were overheard this morning of a planned shooting at the district's high school.
A citizen overheard threats this morning from an unspecified number of young people making reference to plans to bring guns into the high school cafeteria at lunch time.
The citizen phoned the county's emergency command center at 11:15 a.m. from Schoch's gas station in Snydersville. The command center then informed SARP and the school district.
From about noon to 1 p.m., most of the district's schools -- the high school, Morey and Arlington elementaries, the middle school, junior high and intermediate elementary -- were put on lockdown, meaning that students could not move from their classrooms.
Earlier today, students were seen leaving portable classrooms next to the high school while heavily armed police stood guard.
A few hours later, the schools were placed on modified lockdown. Students were allowed to circulate within the building, but not go outside.
Students dismissed at normal times, beginning at 2:35 p.m., but all after-school and evening activities have been cancelled.
In what turned out to be an unrelated matter, police escorted two juveniles into Stroudsburg Junior High School at 2:10 p.m. following reports of two people disappearing into the woods beyond the campus on Chipperfield Drive earlier today.
The students evidently had chosen the day to skip school, according to John Toleno, district superintendent. Their absence was not related to the overheard threat.
Pleasant Valley High School had also been on restricted movement for 1 1/2 hours as a precaution. The normal routine has resumed.
***********************
I would like to add that the shopping mall I was working for is right next to Arlington Elementary and east of the junior high/ middle/ and intermediate school campus. I was informed by a reliable resource that SARP did spot gunmen in the woods by the junior high campus. Just east, on the other side of the wooded area is the shopping mall and elementary school.
March 13, 2008
Stroudsburg Area School District placed its schools on modified lockdown following threats that were overheard this morning of a planned shooting at the district's high school.
A citizen overheard threats this morning from an unspecified number of young people making reference to plans to bring guns into the high school cafeteria at lunch time.
The citizen phoned the county's emergency command center at 11:15 a.m. from Schoch's gas station in Snydersville. The command center then informed SARP and the school district.
From about noon to 1 p.m., most of the district's schools -- the high school, Morey and Arlington elementaries, the middle school, junior high and intermediate elementary -- were put on lockdown, meaning that students could not move from their classrooms.
Earlier today, students were seen leaving portable classrooms next to the high school while heavily armed police stood guard.
A few hours later, the schools were placed on modified lockdown. Students were allowed to circulate within the building, but not go outside.
Students dismissed at normal times, beginning at 2:35 p.m., but all after-school and evening activities have been cancelled.
In what turned out to be an unrelated matter, police escorted two juveniles into Stroudsburg Junior High School at 2:10 p.m. following reports of two people disappearing into the woods beyond the campus on Chipperfield Drive earlier today.
The students evidently had chosen the day to skip school, according to John Toleno, district superintendent. Their absence was not related to the overheard threat.
Pleasant Valley High School had also been on restricted movement for 1 1/2 hours as a precaution. The normal routine has resumed.
***********************
I would like to add that the shopping mall I was working for is right next to Arlington Elementary and east of the junior high/ middle/ and intermediate school campus. I was informed by a reliable resource that SARP did spot gunmen in the woods by the junior high campus. Just east, on the other side of the wooded area is the shopping mall and elementary school.