Dear OV Community:
First, I want to thank everyone for their patience, understanding, and poise during a very challenging morning at Otter Valley. Our staff had planned today for sophomores and juniors to take the PSAT, a 9th-grade field day, an off-site field trip, and a college and career workshop. It was already a day that required a significant logistical lift, and the bomb threat/evacuation incident made it much more challenging.
While we have issued a separate press release regarding the event, I wanted to write today directly to our community, from me, so that you have the most complete picture of what happened as possible, and I can address some questions that the community is asking.
Around 8:00 this morning, some students came to us reporting some concerning, threatening language that suggested that there was a bomb in the school building. While from the beginning it was very likely a hoax, we cannot take such language lightly. We immediately began working with law enforcement on next steps, and Brandon PD was on site very quickly. Out of an abundance of caution, we made the decision to fully evacuate the building to complete additional assessment. Our students and staff did a wonderful job of calmly and safely evacuating the building, and staging in the parking lot. This enabled us to take attendance and ensure student accountability. We had several members of our team, along with law enforcement, complete a thorough visual inspection of the building. Nothing unusual was noted, and at that point we were as confident as ever that there was no active threat to student safety. We worked with state and local law enforcement to select the best path forward, and determined we would re-enter the school around 9:30. While weather conditions weren’t ideal for an hour-long evacuation, it is our assessment that the evacuation was the safest option. Upon return to the building, students participated in a brief assembly to review the incident, and then resumed their day, with some modifications to the schedule. Unfortunately, this resulted in a rescheduling of our PSAT day and 9th grade field day.
We are aware that several students made the decision to go home for the day due to feelings of anxiousness, concern, or fear. To be clear, the absences of students who left early today will be considered excused and therefore make them fully eligible for homecoming activities.
While the circumstances of today’s incident were difficult, I am wrapping up the day feeling gratitude for our students and staff. Students were very patient and understanding. OV and Central Office staff worked hard to execute emergency procedures, and then did the significant work of helping students have as normal a day as possible. Many, many staff checked in with our administration and crisis team to offer a helping hand. Importantly, I want to offer a huge thank you to our front office staff, who managed very busy phone lines and anxious students and families while trying to accurately document early dismissals and attend to the regular tasks on their plate.
The work of responding to this incident is not done, and our team has a lot of work still ahead. We are actively working on identifying the individual who made the threat, and will follow up with appropriate consequences and safety planning, using our threat assessment protocols where appropriate, and coordinating our response with law enforcement. We will continue to identify and work with students that had difficulty today to ensure that they feel safe and supported at OV. Additionally, as with any safety incident, our team debriefs and updates our safety procedures to ensure that our emergency operations plan is as robust and comprehensive as possible. Finally, we are working on rescheduling our PSAT assessment, no small lift with the constraints around testing from the College Board.
I wanted to be sure to address some of the questions that have come up to hopefully clarify some of our decision-making on this day.
*Why were students in the parking lot on a wet, cold day?
- Every RNESU school has established safety plans, including evacuation, relocation, and reunification procedures. Evacuation is done prior to considering relocation, to ensure immediate safety from a potential hazard within the building.
- Relocation requires time and coordination, including the dispatching of bus drivers, public communication, and planning at the relocation sites.
- The relocation process had already begun when the building was determined to be safe to re-enter. At that point, the decision was made to return students to the building rather than continue with off-site relocation.
*Why couldn’t parents pick up their children during the incident?
- We understand that when parents hear there is an emergency at their child's school, their first instinct is to get to their child as quickly as possible. We understand that concern and share the priority of keeping every student safe.
- During an active emergency response, allowing parents to arrive and remove individual students can complicate the response, create barriers to access for emergency vehicles, interfere with emergency personnel, and make it more difficult to maintain accurate accountability for all students.
- Staff must be able to account for students, follow emergency instructions, and coordinate their movements. Students cannot simply be released individually while the situation is still being assessed.
- The Vermont School Emergency Information Guide for Parents and Guardians specifically advises parents not to call or rush to the school during an emergency because doing so can interfere with emergency responders. It also explains that students are released through established procedures when reunification is necessary.
- If an off-site relocation is necessary, students are moved in an orderly manner, and families receive instructions about where and how to reunite with their children. That process takes time and coordination.
- We typically do not prevent students from using their phones to notify families of safety during the incident, though the literature suggests that accessing cell phones during an emergency can actually decrease safety.
*Who made the decision to re-enter the building?
- While school staff received advice from law enforcement, it was ultimately the decision of school and district officials to make the decision to re-enter.
- We are grateful for the support of law enforcement during the emergency, as they provided important perspective and guidance as we worked to make the right decision.
*Are homecoming activities affected by the incident?
- As noted above, we would not have reoccupied the building today if we were not supremely confident in the safety of our campus. As such, the homecoming football game and dance will proceed as scheduled. The raft race and middle school spirit games had previously been cancelled or postponed due to factors (visiting team transportation, weather) not related to today’s incident.
- Students who were dismissed early today because of today’s incident will be able to access homecoming activities as normal.
*I have heard of a few incidents recently at Otter Valley. Are things safe?
- The last month has been a challenging one at OV, with some unexpected physical altercations, a swatting incident, an unprovoked assault, and this bomb scare. I recognize and appreciate the community concerns about student safety, and take them seriously. We have seen a precipitous decline in these types of incidents over the last few years, but there has definitely been an uptick in the last month.
- I truly believe that Otter Valley is a safe place, and safety is the number one priority of a school system. That said, I also acknowledge that these incidents are concerning. Our team uses a combination of disciplinary consequences, education, and safety planning for students involved in these incidents. We work with law enforcement when appropriate, and we try to communicate transparently with our community while also protecting student privacy and dignity.
- I welcome the opportunity to speak with community members who have concerns about student safety, so that I can best understand those concerns, and explain as best I can the work our team is doing to address them. Please feel free to contact me at mruppel@rnesu.org if you would like to set up a time to meet.
*What is going on with the PSAT testing?
- The College Board has told us that we need to resume testing on Monday, October 19. While we had initially had this as a required assessment for all 10th and 11th graders, it will now be optional.
- The testing will take place beginning at 11:30 Monday. Students who have not yet indicated that they want to test on Monday should contact Meredith McCartney as soon as possible. We will run a normal schedule, and students will be excused from their classes.
Ms. McCartney will provide much more detail in a separate email.
Please know that I value, daily, the partnership and support from our community in making Otter Valley the best place that it can be for students to learn. I am even more grateful for this community on challenging days like today.
Sincerely,
Michael Ruppel
Principal
OVUMHS