Lauren Walinski
Editor-in-Chief
Students of New Hope-Solebury found their winter break starting a day early when school was called off on Friday, Dec. 21, due to a shooting threat.
On the night of Thursday, Dec. 20, a New Hope-Solebury student received a phone call in which the caller warned “your school is going to get shot up tomorrow.” The student warned school administration of the possibility of a shooting. Within hours, the rest of the students received a call from administration informing that a threat had been made against the school and that there would be increased security all across campus the next morning. Administration promised to keep students updated as to what would be done about the possible attack to in order to ensure the safety of everybody on campus. A second call came the next morning cancelling all school activities for the day, which unfortunately included the Talent Show.
The shooting threat was traced during the winter break by authorities back to a male teen in Tennessee with police from both states working together with FBI field offices in Fort Washington and Nashville to track it back. Authorities found after an exhaustive search that the call was a prank. They went further and said that the phone call was never at any point a true threat to the school. However, it is not yet clear what will happen to the “prankster.”
It is evident with the recent school shootings and threats towards schools around the nation that the school and New Hope Police Department did not want to take any chances with the phone call incident. Many are praising the school’s response to the threat, believing it showcases dedication to student safety and a willingness to put student lives above all else.
