There was an increased police presence on campus Tuesday
By Zack Cherkas and Michael Herrera
Around 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 20, the San Mateo Police Department was notified of a threat made on an undisclosed gaming website against a high school in San Mateo, which was narrowed down to be Aragon. The threat, which was deemed non-credible fifth period, referenced the fatal Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and specified that a similar attack would take place at 2 p.m. on Aragon’s campus. Nonetheless, the staff was directed to take precautionary measures.
Near the end of fifth period, Assistant Principal Lisa Warnke made an announcement over the P.A. system asking all staff to report to the Multi Purpose Room during lunch.
“We asked the office not to send passes for anybody to be out on campus, we asked the teachers not to send anyone to the bathroom,” Assistant Principal Ron Berggren said. “[Warnke told staff], ‘If you hear a fire drill bell go off, or fire alarm bell go off, do not evacuate unless you get a P.A. announcement or you actually see or smell smoke or fire.'”
During sixth period, teachers locked their doors but did not explain to students what had happened at the meeting. When approached by Outlook editors during seventh period, teachers uniformly explained that they could not speak about the matter. However, during seventh period, after the timeframe of the threat had passed, Berggren recounted the situation.
“There was a threat made against a high school in San Mateo,” he said. “It was then narrowed down to actually using the name ‘Aragon.’ And something was supposed to go down at 2 p.m. San Mateo [Police Department] first heard about it, they informed us, we worked with the school district, we worked with the San Mateo PD, and they deemed this to not be a credible threat.”
The administration and Aragon Resource Officer Laura Sharp did not disclose any details about the threat nor whom it was made by, and the SMPD did not return our calls.
Despite its status as non-credible, given the past week’s events and the prevalence of copycat attacks, the threat was treated with caution.
Health teacher Barbara Beaumont pulled her daugher, freshman Audrey Beaumont, from her sixth period Spanish class because “I wanted her with me.” She used her sixth period Health class as opportunity to teach students how to act in case of emergency.
“I was like, ‘Well, OK, time to get my thoughts straight, make sure I have my keys and my cell phone,’ she said. “I didn’t have running shoes on — I think prepared for emergency, because I’ve been through a lot of training … So I start to think like that, make sure everybody’s in my class, stand at the door, make sure it’s locked, make sure everybody’s safe, make sure nobody is starting to get anxiety or stress.”
Berggren noted during seventh period that a message informing the parents of what had transpired would be sent out shortly. At 3:26 p.m., 11 minutes after the end of school, the Aragon Administrative Team sent out a message via LoopMail titled “School Safety Message After Violence in Parkland, Florida.”
The message outlined that there had been a threat that had been deemed non-credible, but, “out of an abundance of caution, we informed the entire Aragon staff, assigned extra team members to monitor the campus, and the San Mateo Police Department assigned additional officers to monitor the school.”
The message did not mention that all teachers were asked to lock their doors and discourage student from leaving their sixth period classes. However, it did outline the measures that the district and county take to keep students safe, such as following the San Mateo County Office of Education’s “Big Five” protocol of shelter in place, drop cover and hold, secure campus, lockdown and barricade and evacuation.
The “Big Five” was the result of the San Mateo County’s Coalition for Safe Schools and Communities, a collaborative effort between county schools, law enforcement, and emergency services that was founded as a reaction to the 2013 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
According to Warnke, a “loose and informal” secure campus protocol was practiced during sixth period. “Secure campus” calls for all doors to be closed and locked, and all students to remain inside unless directed otherwise.
After-school activities went on as normal.
While many felt the administration handled the situation appropriately, there were some questions as to why parents and students weren’t notified of the threat until after the school day.
“The administration is under certain pressures — there’s only so much information they can give out, and so letting students and parents know about the threat might have caused more of an issue than it needed to be, so I recognize why they didn’t do it,” said English teacher Denise Ivelich. “Yet as a parent, I would be furious if this was happening and I didn’t [know] at my child’s school.”
Few students were concerned about the teacher meeting, but some did notice the locked doors and that the office was closed.
Sophomores Mavi Eyuboglu and Gabby Mangano recounted how on Tuesday at lunch they were initially turned away when they attempted to pick up copies of their transcripts from the counseling office. They pointed out that the transcript had already been printed and was available, and were again told to leave. After again insisting, they were told to pick up the transcripts and then left.
At the end of school on Wednesday, a full day after the email was sent out, many students were not aware that there had been any sort of incident.
However, on Thursday afternoon, the Outlook became aware of a Feb. 18 voicemail that was recorded and posted on Snapchat, where it was viewed by a number of Aragon students, at least some of whom perceived it to be a threat against the school. The voicemail said, “Next week, Aragon High School, Hillsdale High School, Alameda, 31st and McDonalds Avenue. Be smooth. Stop [n-word].”
Alameda, 31st Ave. and “McDonalds Ave.” are the streets on which Aragon, Hillsdale and Borel Middle School are located, respectively.
Warnke and Sharp said the context of the message did not convey any sort of direct threat to the school, and that the person who recorded the message confirmed that it was indeed not intended to be a threat.
According to Warnke, emergency response protocol will be reviewed during Thursday’s staff meeting.
I have some questions… What was the source? Has anything happened to whoever issued this threat? What’s the protocol Now? I am a previous student at Aragon and I am a mother to 2 kids. This kind of stuff scares the daylights out of me.