Doors Locked, Officers Patrolling at Gilmanton Public Schools

make weau.com your homepage
News Links
News Tips

Posted: Tue 5:22 PM, Jan 03, 2006

A A

Reporter: Andrew Fefer Email

Updated: Tue 11:11 PM, Jan 03, 2006

Back to HomePage

Doors Locked, Officers Patrolling at Gilmanton Public Schools

Video will be available shortly.

Students in the Gilmanton School District were met with some security measures they may have found surprising on their first day back from the holiday break.

All but one door leading into the district's buildings are now locked, and armed sheriff's deputies are at each school.

It's in response to an incident late last week outside of school.

An 8th grade boy allegedly threatened a high school senior by way of the internet, saying when he flipped out, he'd bring a gun to school and kill the student he was chatting with among others.

Gilmanton's superintendent didn't find out till Sunday.

"When i saw that the school was mentioned and that it really didn't...it was kinda vague on who and what, I felt the prudent thing to do was call school on Monday," Bill Perry said.

"This is kind of our 9-11 I guess."

School leaders say there's no telling just how long the deputies will be patrolling their buildings. Though it will likely be at least until officers have finished their investigation.

"Until we feel that we can be comfrotable to relax it somewhat."

Although he says this is an isolated case that doesn't represent the rest of the students who he says co-exsist very well, he plans to keep the outside doors locked from this point forward.

"I don't see it ever happening again but we're not going to take any chances."

That "err on the side caution" attitude that brought the officers into the schools has the potential to strain the district's budget, so they're hoping the investigation is quick.

Meanwhile the superinendent wants parents to keep an eye on how their kids use the net, and keep their teachers in mind as a resource.

Next Story >