What Was the "Perceived Threat" That Closed Scarsdale High School?

Though parents and community members received many emails about the lockout at Scarsdale High School on Friday May 21, they still don’t know the nature of the “perceived threat” that caused the incident.

Apparently, on Friday morning school personnel contacted the Scarsdale Police about a perceived threat. In response at 11:11 am the school was placed in a lockout status though staff with ID’s and students were permitted to enter and exit through specific doors.

At 1:05 the administration made the decision to dismiss all students and police were present on campus. Rumors were circulating about a bear in the area, but those proved to be false.

Subsequent emails from Dr. Hagerman and the Police Chief were sent out, explaining that the secrecy about the nature of the threat was essential to give Police time to investigate. According to Chief Andrew Matturro, “The limited nature of communication between the Scarsdale Police and the public during an unfolding event of Friday’s nature is by design, as a potentially harmful actor may use access to official communications to be more effective in either executing a plan to harm others, to evade police, or to destroy evidence that the parallel investigation is seeking to discover.”

On Sunday, Dr. Hagerman announced that schools would open on Monday with a continued police presence.

Both the district and the police said they were following protocols to ensure the safety of students and teachers, but some parents were angered by the mysterious tone of the communications and the district’s refusal to share the nature of the “perceived threat.”

In response, the SHS PTA said they will meet with Principal Ken Bonamo to review “the communication procedures, protocol implementation and hear feedback.” They said, “We recognize that in a crisis there are specific details that ought not to be and will not be shared with the community. However Friday’s crisis has left room for improvement.”