On the morning of Thursday, April 14, nothing seemed amiss at ORR. The school day was like any other; classes were passing regularly as students prepared to push through one final day of school before a much needed vacation. There were no apparent indicators of the threat that would be received mere hours later.
At 11:55 am, ORR was put into a stay in place, which later escalated to a lockdown. Police from all three towns responded to a threat of a potential gunman.
When instructed to enter lockdown procedure over the intercom by Vice Principal Michael Parker, it was made very clear not to barricade the doors; students would be instructed to do so if it were necessary.
Why was it necessary to instruct students not to barricade? Up until last year, a lockdown meant students would sit in a secluded corner of the classroom, with the lights off and doors and windows locked, waiting for the threat to pass. Since then, Old Rochester has begun implementing the ALICE protocol in case of emergencies.
ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) is a plan meant to allow students the ability to be responsible for their own lives, if they so choose. Instead of the traditional “sitting duck” method, ALICE alerts the students what is happening in the school and gives them the necessary information to decide whether they should remain in the building and fight the intruder if need be, or evacuate the building.
In a hypothetical situation, after entering a lockdown, someone in authority would come over the intercom and explain the situation, saying something along the lines of “there is an intruder in the history wing.” Students would then use that knowledge to decide whether the threat is far enough away for evacuation, whether they should barricade, or whether they should prepare for a confrontation with the threat.
As the lockdown continued, students tried desperately to figure out what was happening. A quick Google Search pulled up news articles from several reliable sources (including CBS and FOX 25), explaining that over 30 schools across Massachusetts had received robo-call bomb threats earlier that morning. Students assumed Old Rochester just so happened to be a recipient of one of those calls.
That theory was disproven later that afternoon when an email was sent out to the Old Rochester community from High School Principal Michael Devoll and Junior High Principal Kevin Brogioli. The email stated, “…The Mattapoisett Police Department received a report of an inbound chat to a call center that there was a gunman at Old Rochester Regional. The chat was later proved to be a false alarm.”
The lockdown was lifted at 1:00 pm, and the school day resumed normally.
In an all-call to the school community, Principal Devoll assured students and parents that the school was once again safe, promising, “We will increase police presence at both schools tomorrow to ensure a safe and suitable environment for learning should anyone have concerns.”
The next day at the school, security was very much heightened as promised. Students were met by officers monitoring all entrances as they walked into school, and throughout the day officers could be seen patrolling the hallways.
During the morning announcements, Principal Devoll congratulated the students and staff for a job well done in following the protocol they were instructed to follow. He also offered support for students struggling with leftover anxiety from the event.
“If you’re experiencing difficulty today, we want you to know that that’s not irregular,” said Devoll. “Please seek some support in the building. We have staff that’s ready, willing, and able to assist. We will continue to ensure that you have a safe learning environment.”
The fear at Old Rochester after the lockdown felt lifted like a weight off students’ shoulders. The biggest fear across the student body was easily the lack of knowledge, as explained by Jonathan Kvilhaug.
“I think the most troubling part about it was the lack of answers and communications and how rumors were running rampant,” Kvilhaug said. “We heard rumors there was a gunman, we heard rumors there was a bomb. People were preparing to barricade doors, people were preparing to evacuate. You’d think that cell phones would improve communication and make things better, but they almost increased chaos.”
Students are also concerned about the fact that so little has been released about the potential threat to their safety. Emily Newell explained, “I think the worst part was that we didn’t know what was going on. People were on their phones and gossip spread so fast. Now that we’re out of it, it’s a little annoying because nobody has told us what’s going on, so we don’t know what actually happened.”
Emily Ziino felt similarly.
“I’ve always felt so safe at school, but it made me realize that I might not be as safe as I once thought,” said Ziino.
Some students noticed that it was other Old Rochester students that made them slightly anxious.
“Some kids didn’t take it as seriously as they should have,” said Caroline Regis.
The event hit home for the seniors in particular, who had just completed the “Every 15 Minutes” program. The program is meant to show students how frequently young adults are involved in drunk driving accidents – one every 15 minutes, hence the name. In this program, a senior dressed as Death roams the hallways and selects one other senior to “die” every 15 minutes. Those students spend the night at the school.
Just a few hours before, the seniors were released from class to go to an assembly in which the parents of those students “killed” in the program read notes to their “dead” children.
Senior Natasha Shorrock explained the heightened fear for the seniors.
“It was a terrifying thing, especially after Every 15 Minutes, where we had students ‘dying,’ and we had to listen to letters about people losing their children. Then we had to face that potential threat of actually losing people.”
After the event, many students at Old Rochester were naturally a little apprehensive to come to school the next day. In an all-call to the Old Rochester community, Principal Devoll explained that the school was secure and ensured a safe learning environment for both students and staff.
“Superintendent White and I have been working with both state and local police this afternoon to investigate the threat we have received,” he said “At this time, we have been assured that all of the school community is safe and school will be in session tomorrow per usual.”
Thankfully, April vacation for Old Rochester is this week, April 18-22, which will give ample time for any leftover anxiety to leave students and staff. As for answers, it doesn’t appear that anyone is getting anything soon. Currently, the investigation to find threat’s point of origin is ongoing.
By Sienna Wurl