On March 22, 2024 Bethpage High School’s 2nd period was interrupted by Assistant Principal Tocco’s announcement regarding an emergency situation that required students evacuation to JFK Middle School.
All students and staff walked in large groups down Broadway and Stewart to the middle school while police officers arrived at the scene, and even helicopters flew overhead.
Although the situation may seem intense for many students and possibly even traumatic, most students handled the situation with maturity.
As for the current BHS Seniors and Juniors, they experienced a very similar situation while they were in 7th and 6th grade at JFK. They were evacuated to the high school after a bomb threat had occurred, only 5 years before last week’s event.
Julia Baumbach said, “There was definitely less panic this time compared to the one that happened in 6th grade”.
A huge difference between this occurrence and the one five years ago was the students were notified of the gravity of the situation through an announcement immediately. In JFK the fire alarm rang and students did not take any of their belongings, since everyone thought it was a routine fire drill, including cell phones which were incredibly necessary for arranging rides home and alerting parents of the situation.
Senior, Joy Kim said, “It was definitely better that we took our backpacks with us and were able to call people to let them know what was going on.”
Once students and staff arrived at JFK, they were separated by grade, 9th and 11th in the gym, and 10th and 12th in the auditorium. JFK students remained in their second period classes while this took place to avoid chaos in the hallways.
Once in their assigned holding areas students were counted and began doing things to pass the time. Students found the light in a scary situation, passing time by playing games, having group karaoke sessions, and even had some of our favorite teachers join in the fun.
Gabby Canciani said, “we were playing heads up and singing karaoke. It was kind of fun”.
Many students were excited and relieved when Mr. Tocco announced after almost an hour and a half of waiting that we would be returning to the school, but quickly dismissed it to go home after that.
Joey Infranca said, “It was a bad situation, but at least we all got to go home”.
Although this situation may seem rare, it is unfortunately quite common in surrounding areas. Matter of fact, in the 90’s students would call in bomb threats pretty often if they had a test they did not want to take.
Mr Malossi said, “I heard that this kind of thing used to happen like every other week. Everyone would evacuate to the football field”.
Overall, the evacuation was handled extremely well by all students and faculty, making the unprecedented transition from BHS to JFK and finally back to BHS a smooth one. Everyone returned to school on Monday, March 25th, now confident that our school is prepared to handle stress and chaos in cases of emergency.
If any students have any worries or concerns following the bomb threat and evacuation that occurred last week please feel free to talk to a teacher or guidance counselor for help.
