Photo by James Short
Reports of a bullet found in a classroom spurred a full investigation of students, the building, and families involved.
UPDATE: Following the early dismissal from the Wissahickon High School, many in the community had questions. Parents and guardians were emailed an update around 5:25 p.m. Thursday evening. The email came from Principal Dr. Lynne Blair, Ed.D.
“I have no doubt that you are anxiously awaiting this communication,” Blair said as she opened her email. “The safety and well-being of our students and staff is our top priority. In line with that commitment, I want to share as much information about today’s incident as possible. I know that you trust us with the safety of your children – and I take that responsibility very seriously.”
Blair said that the incident was spurred by a bullet being found on school property, inside a Wissahickon High School classroom. Per the district’s protocol, a “heightened supervision and safety measures” were put into place.
“We immediately contacted the police and initiated a thorough investigation,” Blair said in her email. “Students were kept in their classrooms while we spoke to and searched the belongings of every student who was in that classroom [in which the bullet was found] today. We did not find any weapon or any other bullets on any student.”
In what seems to be an unrelated incident, a shell casing was found in another student’s pocket during the search. Blair said a second investigation, with both police and administration, was conducted.
“We are very confident that the two incidents are not related or connected,”
said the principal.
The school’s leader said she was glad the steps were in place for a proper dismissal due to the circumstances.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we took immediate steps to ensure the safety of everyone in our building and decided to dismiss our students early so that we could conduct a complete search of our building with the police,” said Blair. “We searched all lockers, classrooms, bathrooms, ceilings, and trashcans.”
Blair said that the local police were a true asset in this tense situation.
“I cannot thank the Lower Gwynedd Police enough; their support and partnership has been second to none,” she said. “As we worked at the school, the police completed home-visits to multiple families in an effort to collect information we needed to ensure that our students and staff could feel confident returning to school tomorrow.”
In the time it took for the information to disseminate, the community, parents, students, and friends began quite an online stir of gossip and speculation. Blair also addressed these untrue rumors.
“It is important for me to share that we are very aware of many rumors that are being spread about students who are not involved in this situation whatsoever,” said Blair. “Please be mindful about trusting and spreading information. I will not get into each individual rumor because there are too many to address – what I can do is share this factual account of what happened and assure you that there is no threat to any specific student or staff member at WHS.”
Wissahickon Now opted to refrain from any speculation or gossip sharing in the interim of hearing confirmed information to prevent the spread of unnecessary panic. Blair said the main source of spreading rumors seemed to be social media users.
“Unfortunately, as we have seen in the past, social media is very quick to spread misinformation,” she said. “I am sharing the correct and complete story with you here.”
To increase safety measures at the school, which is planning to be in session tomorrow with normal start and finish times, an increased police presence is planned.
“We will have extra police personnel on campus tomorrow and next week to ease concerns,” said Blair. “We also encourage you to speak with your child about the importance of reporting anything unusual or concerning to an adult.”
Blair said that it will take the cooperation of the community, families, and students themselves to continue to keep the high school a safe educational space.
“Together, we can help maintain the safe, supportive learning environment that our students deserve,” she said. “Thank you for your continued trust and support.”
For the full earlier report by Wissahickon now, visit https://wissnow.com/news/2024/sep/12/wissahickon-high-school-dismissed-early-for-an-investigation-in-a-security-matter-thursday/.
