In the wake to three bomb threats and an incident where a student brought a pistol to school, the Boothbay Harbor Schools are installing 22 cameras to monitor activity inside and outside the buildings.
Union 49 Superintendent Eileen King told a parents’ group that contractors worked over the weekend to install the wiring. Some cameras are already in place for a $14,000 computer-controlled system.
“I have talked to several superintendents and they say installation of cameras has helped cut down incidents,” she said.
While cameras won’t prevent future incidents, like the recent trio of bomb threats at the school, it will make it easier to investigate them, she said.
King made the announcement about the cameras at a meeting for parents and teachers following Monday’s arrest of a student who brought a .40 Glock automatic pistol to school.
High School Principal Dan Welch said a female student was nearly hysterical when she notified officials that she had seen a student with a gun and he meant to hurt himself.
Almost immediately, Welch ordered the school locked down and called 911. Boothbay Harbor Police Chief Robert Hasch said he and School Resource Officer Larry Brown arrived three minutes later.
“Within 30 seconds of our arrival, we had the child in custody,” he said.
In response to parents’ questions, King said the school has a series of mentoring programs in place designed to help students.
These include an invisible mentoring program where adults watch students without the student’s knowledge. “This student was being monitored in this way. We tried to get help, inside and outside the school, for him and his family,” she said.
The student has been expelled, she said.
After the incident, police and school officials told students at an assembly what had transpired. King also sent a letter home to parents and invited them to Tuesday’s meeting.
Parents asked why school officials kept the buildings locked for nearly an hour after the juvenile was arrested. King said this was done to allow officials to question him and witnesses to determine if he acted alone or was part of a wider plot.
Other parents asked why their children’s cell phones were shut down. Hasch said that in a bomb threat situation, a cell phone could be used to set off a bomb and even police do not use these devices when they search schools.
“We have plans for these and other situations and we followed this plan.” Hasch said.
Lincoln County Emergency Management director Tim Pellerin praised Hasch and school officials for making and following their emergency plan.
“Their training kicked in and they acted properly,” he said.
“This could have been different. Think of (the school shootings at) Columbine. Thank god it wasn’t,” he said.
When one parent asked where the student got the gun, Hasch said the student got it from another person. He said police learned the identity of the gun owner and arrested him within 30 minutes.
“He wasn’t supposed to have a gun either,” the chief said.
When a parent asked what could be done to keep school children safe, both police and school officials said they are trying to figure this out. “This is a learning environment and not a prison and I don’t want to turn it into one,” the chief said.
“King admitted the incident was “very scary” for the students, their parents and officials.
“We have a lot of programs in place but none which prevent a child from making a bad decision,” she said.
Hasch told parents his department is still trying to determine who was behind the three bomb threats that triggered lockdowns at the school beginning in November.
Police are interviewing possible witnesses and the students are fed up with the threats, Hasch said.
“The kids are as tired of this as we are. They say they would tell us (who was doing it) if they knew,” he said.
