Garnet Valley High School issued the following announcement on Dec. 8.
Dear School Community,
I wanted to make you aware of a situation that occurred at GVMS involving a terroristic threat made through social media. The individual(s) who are responsible for the post have been identified, and the Pennsylvania State Police are currently conducting the investigation. Please be assured that any student(s) associated with the incident were detained by the police prior to the start of school and there was no chance that any of them would have arrived at school via bus or private transportation. The district’s and the police’s ability to act quickly was made possible by a conscientious parent and her child, who were able to provide all of the information that we needed between 11:45pm last night and 6:00am this morning. Although we had intended on communicating to the school community prior to the start of the school day, we did not want our messaging with parents to impede the state police’s investigation. Again, we are confident that all threats were neutralized prior to today’s start of school.
The health, welfare, and safety of our school community is always our first priority, and it is for this reason that we immediately involved the Pennsylvania State Police in the investigation. The district will continue to work in concert with law enforcement to ensure that the individuals receive the consequences that they deserve. We realize these situations are troubling and can cause families fear and anxiety. If your child is expressing concerns, please contact his or her school counselor or administrator, and we will be sure that they have a trusted adult with whom they can speak. Finally, we ALL need to work together to ensure the safety of our school community. Whenever you learn of concerning information that makes you worried for anyone’s safety in our schools, please contact your children’s administrators, or in the event of an imminent threat, the police.
As always, thank you for your support!
Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent
Original source can be found here.
