By: Natalie Brzeziak, Class IV
At around 9:16 am on the morning of September 16th, 2024 the blocks surrounding the Brooklyn Latin school building, where school hadn't even officially started yet, were filled with confused students yelling questions, checking social media, and comforting each other as they tried to not get lost in the chaotic crowd. All three schools in the building had just been evacuated by the NYPD due to a bomb threat, with little to no explanation. Additionally, this evacuation took place before Headmaster Billy was informed and had a chance to inform her staff, leaving it up to equally confused teachers and administrators to keep everyone calm as they herded students further and further away from the school. Meanwhile, NYPD officers swarmed the building. After half an hour with no news, students began to sling their backpacks onto the sidewalk and sit down as they waited anxiously for a sign that their school was safe.
In recent years, the number of registered bomb incidents has increased drastically. This is most likely caused by the furtive nature of the crime. With more and more technological advancements, it is much easier for offenders to communicate the threat without having to face their victims. In the past 15 years the state of New York has increased the charge for bomb threats from a class A misdemeanor to a class E felony because they have become concerningly common. Despite the fact that bomb threats are rarely real, they are always taken seriously until proven otherwise. Even an empty threat can turn into a chaotic situation for students and staff, and evacuations can be emotionally, and sometimes physically, harmful to those involved. Beyond the difficulties of the actual evacuation, school districts are increasingly requiring extra school hours for time lost during a bomb threat.
Mr. Yee, a Brooklyn Latin Assistant Headmaster who heads operations for TBLS, provided more insight into our school’s experience with a bomb threat. The first obstacle that the staff at our school was faced with was the timing of this incident. Mr. Yee explained that, “It was an unexpected incident and we usually meet with the School Safety Team in the first month of school to hash out the protocols that we follow in case of emergencies. At that time, we didn’t meet with the group yet, so we were following the protocols from last year.” Even though the school was put in a difficult situation, everyone worked as a team and made sure students stayed safe. Mr. Yee also mentioned that our school was even commended by the superintendent for a job well done. However, after reviewing the response to the bomb threat our school administrators did find areas of action that could have been improved on. Mr. Yee pointed out, “TBLS students were evacuated by the NYPD without informing the administration so the students were already outside even before we were informed by the NYPD that there was an evacuation.”
In a conversation with Headmaster Billy, she emphasized that administrators and teachers are not trained to handle these types of situations that involve threats to the lives of students and staff. In emergencies like this, she has no choice but to hand control entirely over to the NYPD. Furthermore, these situations are equally terrifying and disorienting for staff as they are for students. Yet, in the days that followed the accident, administrators and staff did everything they could to calm down students and inform concerned families about the details of the situation. Mr. Yee adds, “We received quite a few emails from parents, wondering about our general procedures. Our rate of responding to situations like these and informing the families that we have everything in order, eliminated some of those questions and concerns.”
This bomb threat is nowhere near the first emergency situation Brooklyn Latin has faced, but the fact that the evacuation happened as many students were just arriving to school, and the suddenness of it, made this situation one of the more complicated and stressful ones. Despite the turbulent nature of the situation, Mr. Yee emphasized, “In terms of the way we responded and the way we coordinated with the other schools and the way we made sure that everyone was safe and accounted for, we had the best response to the situation.”
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