Earlier today the email below was sent out to the families of West Somerville Neighborhood School students:

June 6, 2022

Dear West Somerville Neighborhood School Parents and Guardians,

Earlier this morning we were made aware of a threatening text by a student in our school indicating that a harmful event would be taking place at our school today and implicating one of their parents. We immediately notified the Somerville Police Department and also asked for assistance from the SPD Juvenile Officer in meeting with the student to assess the credibility of the threat. Additionally, we took steps to ensure that all of our school safety measures were in place and requested the assistance of SPD in providing extra monitoring at the school while the investigation was underway. We went into a modified secure-and-hold from 9:00-9:45 a.m. during which time students and staff were kept indoors and we limited entrance to the school to one door that was supervised.

SPD deemed the incident a hoax, and the student admitted that they had sent the text as a joke. As you know, the safety and well-being of our students and staff is our primary focus. We take any and all threats to our school, our students, and our staff very seriously. We are addressing this incident directly with the student in question and their parents and are taking appropriate action. As is customary, we will also work with the student and their family to provide whatever support they may need and develop a plan to help the student make better choices, while we continue to work to ensure the safety of our school.

We are proud of and grateful for the student who stepped forward to report this text, allowing us to address the concern quickly. We also appreciate SPD’s immediate response for assistance, and their support in providing extra vigilance until they were able to make a determination about the credibility of the threat. We urge any student who becomes aware of concerning information to let a trusted adult know right away. We are committed to doing all we can to maintain the safety of our students and staff, and will continue to be vigilant and to work to help students make healthy choices for themselves and their community. We also want to remind parents to talk with your students about the seriousness of the words they use and the impact not only to themselves, but to those around them.

Kathleen Seward, Principal