Alleged threats at 2 New Jersey schools have parents on edge

<p>Threats allegedly made against two New Jersey schools have parents scared and officials increasing security.</p>

News 12 Staff

Oct 16, 2018, 9:37 AM

Updated 2,183 days ago

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Threats allegedly made against two New Jersey schools have parents scared and officials increasing security.
Classes were canceled in Garfield Tuesday because of a threat made on social media against Garfield High School. Officials there said that the threats were “credible enough” to warrant closing the school for the day.
"There was a threat that an incident could take place at the school [Tuesday], so we erred on the side of caution and decided to call off school so that our students and our teachers would be safe,” said Garfield City Manager Thomas Duch.
Police said they have detected the origin of the post and found no threat. School will be back in session Wednesday.
But officials in Manville say that a threat made against the school, wasn’t a threat at all. Security at the school as increased Tuesday after messages began appearing on social media warning of a possible threat to the school.
School officials say that it was simply a rumor, and not a threat at all. Law enforcement officials deemed the school safe.
"Several have asked how the school and law enforcement deemed the threat to be not credible. The simple answer is that a threat was never actually made to the students of Manville High School. Overhearing ‘tomorrow is the day’ without any context doesn't constitute the threat of a school shooting,” said Manville School Superintendent Robert Beers at a Board of Education meeting Tuesday night.
But despite attempts to calm parents’ nerves, many said that they were still worried about the safety of their children. About 250 students stayed home from school Tuesday, even though the school was opened.
“I do not feel confident sending my son to school [Wednesday],” said one mother at the meeting. “I’m going to worry about this all tomorrow when I’m at work…because I feel like the threats were real.”
The police and prosecutors office have closed this case in terms of their investigation. But district officials say that they will continue to look into how this all got so out of hand. They say that they will continue to work with parents and the community to figure out how to better communicate and deal with these situations in the future.