The Bomb Threat
Tuesday September 27th was supposed to be a fun day. It was the beginning of homecoming week and we were all so excited for the week we had ahead of us. Looking at the pictures from that day you never would have known that New Haven High School was evacuated. 1000 students and staff members were instructed to leave the building because of a bomb treat.
I think the clock must have been 1.40 when our discussion about 9/11 was interupted in psychology. It was an announcement from one of our principals, Mr. Edmunds. "All students and staff members must evacuate the building and meet at the football field. This is not a drill." We all just looked really confused, trying to figure out what was happening. It could not be a school shooting, because if that was the case, we would have gone into hiding inside the building. Was there a fire? Then why was there no fire alarm? My teacher shouted "Get the stuff, walk down the stairs and exit through the main entrance!". Seeing Mr. Bisschoff, A very respected man, appearing to be scared.. made me freak out a little bit. He made us grab his family pictures and the school trophies. We left our school books on our desks and started running down the stairs. A guy was walking in front, holding the American flag in his hands, so that everyone in our class would be able to follow him. Once we made it to the football field, we all sat down according to our class list. Only one guy had seated himself somewhere else, but we just yelled him down. Our class was really fast at following the instructions which we were very proud of. However, no one told us what was going on. "You all need to be seated with your 6th period class", was announced through the microphone. Chunks of students stood up and tried to find a different seat on the bleachers. "I think they'll tell us - this is what we want the student section to look like on Friday's homecoming game!", I said. Although I thought it was a bit of a weird procedure of getting us all out of the building. But I was wrong. Mr. Edmunds finally spoke up: "Please be quite. You guys do not understand the seriousness of this". Teachers had to make their students quite, and almost everyone was on their phone. This is when I realize mine was in the building. Charging under my chair. Great! One thing I was really thanful for was that it was not cold outside. The temperature was pleasent, maybe a little hot for me who was wearing layers and fuzzy socks, but I just took them off. "I am now going to tell you why we are all out here. Our school received a note, some student thought it was a funny joke, that said a bomb would hit the school at 2.00. We are going to find out who did this, and he is not coming back to New Haven High School. We take this very seriously." How could they know for sure it was a joke? Were they saying that for us to remain calm? Students started getting really loud, talking to each other. "You guys talked about 9/11 when it happened? So did we!" I totally thought that we jinxed it. But no, the clock passed 2.00 and nothing happened. Some students were being disrespectful and they got expelled! One guy was laying down on the bleachers, someone else was screaming "idiot" to the principal and other people were just not cooperative. We were told not to use our phones (and I obviously could not) but people did anyways, so eventually everyone who uses social media knew what was happening at the school. The bomb squad arrived and found nothing. They send teachers back into the building looking for abnormalties. The principal now told us: "All after school activities are canceled. No practice, no game, no movie night. No one will go back into the building today". That meant that I would not get to practice for powderpuff, the girl's football game. Nor would we have our outdoor movie later in the evening. And also, I would not be able to get my phone today. And a lot of upperclassmen would not be able to get their keys so they could drive home, or get into their house. However, school ended at 2.55 as normal. The people who rode a bus got to leave first. I was one of the few people who stayed, and they now announced that people without a key were allowed to enter he building quickly go grab it. I acted like I needed my key and ran up to get my phone. One of my friends took my home and I just ran and knocked on Adrianna's door to tell her what happened. I was not able to reach my host parents. The school had left a quite long message at the phone about the situation.
When I woke up the next morning I realized that all of my stuff was still inside the school builiding. I did not need to bring anything with me. I noticed that Austin had texted me saying the school had been on fire last night. I looked at the new but they had not even mentioned the bomb treat. Did I even have school? Austin and several other students were very clear about not going. "People who go back to New Haven after yesterday are crazy." I went and knocked on Sue's bedroom door and showed her a picture of the school on fire. We decided to drive by, but no evidence of a fire could be found. I later found out there was a dumpster on fire. No big deal. People assumed the dumpster fire was connected to the bomb treat, but I do not believe that.
We all joked about it in class. I think that was a great way to close it off; move on. "Do you remember when they said 'we are looking fo fingerprints at this very moment.', and I said 'Good thing I was wearing gloves!'". A lot of rumors were spread about who was guilty, and people started saying that the actual bomb would explode during homecoming. I guess that kind of talk is unavoidable. All I will tell you is that the person who did this no longer attends new Haven High School, and it was a female upperclassman.
