The Middletown City School District community is on edge after two incidents of violence at Middletown High School in one week. Some parents even chose to keep their kids home from school Friday out of fear for their safety.
During dismissal on Wednesday, several Middletown High School students got into a fight on campus. The Middletown Police Department is investigating the incident.
The district responded by staggering dismissal times at the high school by floor and releasing a map of where students can be picked up and dropped off.
On Thursday, another incident occurred when a high school student sent a message to several students’ phones in the lunchroom threatening a school shooting.
According to Superintendent Amy Creeden, because the post was shared numerous times, it was “virtually impossible” to track who sent it. Authorities issued a hold-in-place order and student cell phones were collected but not searched.
Police are looking into whether the threat was credible.
The district also shared instructions online for how to change airdrop settings.
In a notice to parents, Creeden said, “Negative behaviors and the inappropriate use of social media by our scholars is a serious matter, and we will not tolerate any perpetuation of threats like these.”
She added: “We are respectfully requesting you speak with your young person about the serious nature of these threats and the damage done when they are re-posting negative, dangerous items on social media.”
The pep rally scheduled for Thursday evening was postponed. There's also an increased police presence on the campus of the high school and Twin Towers Middle School.
In addition to the usual two Middletown school resource officers at the high school, there were three additional officers there Friday.
The highly anticipated "Bell Game" between Middletown High School and Port Jervis High School on Friday night will go on as scheduled but under tighter security, including metal detectors, age restrictions and no bags allowed.
At the beginning of this year, the district announced it would not allow cell phone use during the school day but stopped short of an outright ban.
"There's gotta be accountability, not only with the individual student, but the parents," Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus said. "The parents need to be held accountable. You need to make sure when your kids come into school that they're not gonna be acting like this and disrupting school and creating chaos."
With so many school districts around the state and country grappling with a rise in school violence, Neuhaus said the county has a plan to address it.
"We’re considering, the Legislature and I, hiring a deputy commissioner that would be in charge of school safety, basically work with all the schools, both public and private, to make sure they have everything they need to make sure that our kids are going to school in a safe place," he said.
Creeden declined an interview request.
A virtual town hall with mental health support was provided for anyone in the school community affected by the incidents.
The superintendent also stressed that school social workers, psychologists and a trauma coach are available for anyone in need of support.
