It was a hectic afternoon and evening for the Bellwood-Antis School District on Tuesday as separate instances that turned out to be misunderstandings from students and staff prompted security response and lockdowns.
Shortly after the school day for Bellwood-Antis Middle School and High School ended on Tuesday, students who were still on campus spotted a man who had walked from the locker room near the middle school to a gated area near the MS/HS Industrial Arts classrooms and was attempting to access it. There were reports he may have even had a knife.
Since these individuals did not know the man and felt unsafe, out of an abundance of caution, they reported the situation to B-A Security, who prompted a brief lockdown for Myers Elementary just prior to their dismissal until the full details were known.
High School Principal Richard Schreier stated that in response to the situation, administrators and security personnel rewatched video footage of the area in question. Upon watching this footage, the man was identified as a high school football coach who was using his keys to unlock the gated area to retrieve football equipment as well as the buggy that would used that afternoon in practice.
“This is an action [the coach] does daily, but not always while students are exiting the building and boarding busses,” Schreier said.
When the details were sorted out, the Bellwood-Antis School District released a statement at approximately 4:15 p.m. via email and Infinite Campus, saying that the situation was sorted out and students were not in danger at any point during the investigation.
In a way, Mr. Schreier said, the student response was beneficial to promoting a safe environment for all and further ensures that the District promptly approaches any situation that will affect students, threatful or not.
That same afternoon while dismissal was taking place, a student in the middle school discovered a note on the bottom of their shoe that had “Kill” written at the top, followed by first names and last initials of students in the middle school. Upon learning of the note, District officials contacted BASD security and the Bellwood Borough Police Department to investigate and find answers associated with this “Kill List”.
As the evening progressed, a statement making the community aware of the situation was released as District officials and police continued working on finding out the details of this list. Parents of the students whose names were on the list were contacted to provide clarity about what was occurring.
Pending to find out what truly happened, middle school students felt like they were safe and believed that the situation was going to be figured out by officials. Middle School students Tiffany Skipper and Ezra Harpster mutually agreed that they did not feel any scared feelings and had faith in the security team that keeps them safe every school day.
As officials were connecting the dots, a middle school student came forward to their parents, telling them they felt responsible for the list that was causing the panic. The student admitted that the list had no meaning, nor was it written with intent of “killing” the listed students, but rather as part of a game called “Kiss, Marry, Kill” that the student and their peers had been playing that afternoon.
Word of the incident made its round on social media like Facebook, causing no shortage of initial panic. However, middle school principal Dr. Don Wagner was grateful for how the situation was handled.
“The District is committed to keeping a safe community for our teachers and students,” he said. He also thanked the parents and students involved for acting on the situation and cooperating with the investigation.
A final statement from the District was released at approximately 9:38 p.m. explaining the list had no intent for harm. District officials deemed the list inappropriate, and thanked the community for their response.
