Friday's School Incident - A Community Responds

Friday’s school incident was a demonstration in restraint and determination. It demonstrated some of the best aspects of this community – cooperation, concern, and courage.

The email sent Wednesday to a district employee that contained some kind of threat to Alhambra High was probably the result of someone venting some twisted anger or attempting a sick joke. But when it comes to the safety of students in our schools, threats are impossible to just ignore.

After consulting with the police department, the district made a decision Thursday afternoon to alert the community with a robocall regarding the threat and the action the district had chosen to take, which was to keep the school open. It was not an easy decision; again, the safety of the students was on the line. But if the school were closed due to this threat, what would prevent others from doing the same thing in the future?

Instead, security was ramped up and the community alerted. One more thing: the details of this threat are still unknown. And there is a very good reason for that, though this decision also met with some community criticism. If the precise nature of the threat were revealed, it would make the task of finding the perpetrator that much more difficult, and, perhaps more importantly, it would make the fear of the threat that much more vivid for parents and students.

There were several posts on Patch from parents who felt the district did not give them enough information to make an informed decision as to whether to send their kids to school. Fair enough – in that situation, as a parent, you want as much information as possible. But as a district official, you walk a very fine line between providing enough information and literally too much. You want people to know a threat was made, but at the same time, that there was no evidence it was a credible threat. Providing specifics as to the nature of the threat summons images from past horrors that serve only to frighten, and that serves no one.

On Friday, it was impossible to miss the police presence on the campus. Assistant Superintendent Rick Rubino was in the Alhambra High driveway, greeting concerned parents and students, dealing with the swarm of media that morning, and other district administrators could be seen walking around the campus talking to parents, students and staff throughout the day.

Attendance was down anywhere between 40 and 60 percent, and classes were adjusted accordingly so that those students who stayed home did not miss an important test or lesson. But the doors stayed open, the bells rang and the halls were alive with students going from class to class, among their friends and peers, many of them a little nervous, others amused, but all of them there in their familiar and safe environment.

We often talk lately about sending messages to our kids. There were several messages the community sent our kids on Friday: one, that we’re willing to do what it takes to make sure you’re safe. Two, that education is too important to capitulate to threats. And three, education is a joint effort of this entire community, and it is the entire community that will respond when some misguided individual makes a capricious threat.

Good job, Martinez.