Posted on: Friday, March 7, 2003
Schools say students safe following bomb threat
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Because bomb threats to schools are almost always hoaxes, authorities rarely publicize them because they don't want to encourage copycats.
But a recent bomb threat call, received Wednesday afternoon, has created so much anxiety and fear among O'ahu parents that school officials and police decided it was time to quell rumors with facts. They took the extraordinary step of calling a news conference to discuss the bomb threat and to assure parents there was no reason to worry.
"We want everyone to know that our schools are safe," deputy superintendent Clayton Fujie said yesterday. "We want everyone to know that our schools are open."
Police, educators and even some members of the military began searching schools Wednesday, but found nothing.
Fujie said the threat was called in to the 911 emergency line and reported to education department officials about 1 p.m. Wednesday.
Police told school officials that the caller said a bomb hidden in one of the public schools on O'ahu would explode in three days, or about 1 p.m. today.
Initially, authorities thought that the threat was directed at all 176 O'ahu schools. Michelle Yu, a police spokeswoman, said last night that as detectives were investigating, they discovered the caller was speaking about a bomb hidden in a high school. There are 24 high schools on the island.
When asked for the police assessment of the seriousness of the threat, Yu echoed words used by state and military authorities who earlier this week dismissed reports about a terrorist plot against Pearl Harbor:
"We do not believe the threat is credible," she said.
But with Hawai'i and the rest of the nation jittery over the threat of more terrorist attacks and the possibility of war with Iraq, school administrators realized they had to speak publicly about the threat.
In addition to the searches, Fujie said, and because of the "uneasiness of the times," the department also drafted a letter that school administrators could use as a guide to notify parents.
Amy Jackson, the mother of a Mauka Lani Elementary School kindergartner, said yesterday she found her letter in the homework folder of her 6-year-old son, Tristan Ludiazo, carried home from school.
"I just want to know what is going on," Jackson said after calling the school and The Advertiser. "If there is a bomb threat going on, I'm not going to send my child to school."
Jackson also said she couldn't understand why the children were allowed to attend classes.
Fujie said that a number of parents called the education department, the police department and the news media to ask similar questions. To answer them as effectively as possible, he called the news conference.
"We just want to assure parents that we are on top of the situation," he said. "We have initiated the standard operating procedures, visual checks have been performed and if we find anything suspicious, we will evacuate the schools and notify the parents."
Those parents who do not feel secure about sending their children to school today can keep them home, he said. And administrators were authorized to take whatever steps they thought were needed to deal with the situation. For example, the principal at Manana Elementary School moved the after-school "A-plus" program off the campus yesterday.
Military officials brought bomb-sniffing dogs to search schools on or close to the bases, Fujie said. Marine Corps dogs searched Windward schools.
At Mokapu Elementary School, on the Kane'ohe Marine base, the dogs and military police were searching classrooms and the perimeter of every building before school started yesterday.
Larry Biggs, the school principal, said he met with a crew at about 6 a.m. and they were done with the search before school started.
"It puts people's mind at rest to know we're doing something proactive," Biggs said.
Windward O'ahu reporter Eloise Aguiar contributed to this report. Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.
