Crawford Central addresses rumors of threat at high school
Oct. 13—A rumored threat by a student at Meadville Area Senior High was determined not to pose a security risk, Crawford Central School District announced late Thursday morning.
While authorities said there was no security risk, additional police were present at the school "out of an abundance of caution," according to the announcement.
The incident coincided with a Pennsylvania State Police training exercise Thursday morning that involved helicopters flying over the city of Meadville, the announcement stated.
"This in no way is associated with the recent threat at Meadville Area Senior High," the announcement concluded.
Sgt. Adam Blashock, commander of the state police barracks at Meadville, said he was unaware of any training exercise involving helicopters.
Cpl. David Andrasko is the unit supervisor for Aviation Patrol Unit 6 in Franklin, the unit responsible for Crawford County.
"There was no training exercise scheduled with us," Andrasko said, "and I don't know anything about that, to be quite honest with you."
Andrasko said a state police helicopter had landed Thursday at the Northwest Training Center, 195 Valleyview Drive, to pick up a staff member. Such landings and takeoffs happen regularly, he said.
The district received information Wednesday regarding a student making a threat at the high school, according to the announcement. An investigation "with the cooperation of the proper authorities" led to the conclusion that there was no security risk.
The district announced the incident on social media at 10:39 a.m. and in phone calls and text messages to families at around the same time. The text message linked to a document titled "Bomb Threat."
When asked about the incident via text message, Superintendent Tom Washington replied, "There was no false bomb threat."
A message posted to the MASH Facebook page about 35 minutes before the announcement posted on the Crawford Central page offered more details in an apparent attempt to reassure residents caught up in quickly spreading but inaccurate reports about the situation. This earlier post also referenced a state police exercise.
"There are a ton of rumors swirling around," the message from the high school stated. "There are NO bomb threats and there is NO gun being passed around. There was an incident yesterday between two students that was investigated and addressed. The state police are conducting a training which is NOT related to anything with our school. We are completely safe and secure."
Crawford Central School Board President Kevin Merritt said in an interview Thursday afternoon that the rumored threat had been determined to be unfounded.
The presence of multiple police cruisers at the school Thursday morning — before the announcements from either the school or the district — could have fueled the spread of rumors, he added.
"It was just for additional safety, just to make sure that what they had concluded yesterday was official," Merritt said. "Rumors were flying that there was a bomb threat, a kid with a gun, all of this was starting to fly then and none of it was true."
The "one call" automated telephone message was put in hopes of dispelling the rumors, Merrit said. He had been following reactions to the rumors posted to social media, he added, and understood why people were concerned and upset. At the same time, he said the ease of communication offered by cellphones and social media complicated efforts to avoid or slow the spread of rumors.
"I guess when you look back, you can always do something different," he said. "You get chaos no matter how you do it, I guess."
Mike Crowley can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at mcrowley@meadvilletribune.com.
