Sam Gurwitt Photo
Wintergreen School, site of bomb threat.
(Updated 6:41 p.m.) A bomb threat was emailed to the Wintergreen Interdistrict Magnet School in Hamden Thursday around 1 p.m., one of many at schools across the nation.
School administrators immediately evacuated the entire school to Wintergreen Lake, where students and teachers waited for buses to pick them up and bring them to the Dunbar Hill School. There, grade levels were sorted into various wings of the school with the Dunbar Hill students.
Similar threats were sent to Hamden High School and Ridge Hill School.
At around 2:30 p.m., Wintergreen sent out an automated call to parents notifying them of the incident and telling them that their children were safely at Dunbar Hill and could be picked up there.
Ingrid Ellinger-Doviak, the magnet theme coach at Wintergreen, which has students from both Hamden and New Haven, was heartened by the competence of both the Wintergreen and the Dunbar Hill staffs in dealing with the situation.
“We saw a lot of heroes today in terms of our staff. I literally was brought to tears today,” she told the Independent. She added that the “Dunbar Hill staff is outstanding.”
When parent Sandra Fitzpatrick of New Haven arrived at Dunbar Hill to pick up her kids, a police officer was there to direct all the parents. That was important for Wintergreen parents like her who didn’t know the Dunbar Hill pickup routine.
“It felt very organized … There were plenty of adults on hand to direct parents, everybody knew exactly where the kids were,” she told the Independent.
She said her kids “were completely unfazed” when she picked them up. She added that they “didn’t complain about being cold too much.”
At around 4 pm, the principal and the Hamden police were still at the Wintergreen School investigating, and were unavailable to speak to the press.
Superintendent Reports On Other 2 Schools
Superintendent Goeler (at left in photo).
Superintendent of Schools Jody Goeler sent out the following email message describing the other two threats:
Hello Hamden Public School Families,
At approximately 2:00 P.M., a generic threat was made to both Hamden High School and Ridge Hill School. The origin of this email appears to be from out of the country and is similar to other incidents reported around the country today. Proper protocol was followed and police were immediately notified. Police conducted a full investigation and confirmed that at no time were any students or staff in danger. Because of today’s professional development, students had already been dismissed from school upon the receipt of the threat. After school activities were cancelled at Hamden High School as a result of the threat and subsequent investigation and students attending a Ridge Hill field trip were rerouted to St. Steven’s School for pickup. As always, the safety and security of our staff, students and visitors is our number one priority. Please contact me with any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Jody Ian Goeler
