I interviewed Mr. Reid about bomb scares. He told me
a lot about what happens if there is a bomb scare in our school, what we can do
to prevent them and much more.
What
is the punishment for putting
a bomb in the building?
Mr. Reid says that if someone puts a bomb in the building and is caught, then there are two parts to the punishment. He or she will probably be expelled from school, and there will also be a court punishment. The convicted person probably will be placed in a special school where he or she will not have the same privileges as he or she did here at R.J. Grey.
What
is the punishment for saying you put a bomb in the building but not doing it?
If someone says he or she put a bomb in the building
but didn’t, he or she willbe suspended from school and might even be expelled.
There also would be a court case to deal with the crime.
What
should we do if we
overhear or hear by rumor that someone put a bomb in the building?
Mr. Reid advises that we should definitely “do the
right thing” and tell Mr. Hughes or another adult in the building. Also, if we
hear anything suspicious, we should tell Mr. Hughes or an adult in the building.
What
is the deal about making up school time lost during bomb scares?
If the amount of time lost. adds up significantly, we
might need to add another school day. If we were outside for a lot of hours,
they could also send us out in the morning and then send us home. This day would
not count as a school day; it would count as a snow day.
Why
are there bomb scares and how many have happened recently?
Most bomb scares are hoaxes. If not, it is likely
that the person doesn’t really want to hurt or kill people, and probably he or
she will call ahead to say he or she is going to do it. It would be very rare
that a bomb would go off with no warning. In Mr. Reid’s 16 years here there
has never been a real bomb in the school. In the time he has worked here, there
have been four bomb scares. The first one happened four years ago but the other
three of them happened in the last two school years. There were many in the
1970s.
Did
a student set off the bomb scare last year?
Last year the person who did it
was a student, but Mr. Reid
Is
there a difference between a bomb scare and a bomb threat?
No, there is no difference.
What
is the procedure if there
is a bomb scare?
If the school gets a call that someone says he or she
put a bomb in the building or they find out in another way, it will be announced
on the P.A. When the alarm rings, everyone will go outside the way we practiced.
Before we go out, the teachers will open all the windows since the bomb wants to
expand. That way, it will be less likely to damage things, When they make us go
outside, the Police Department, Fire Department and administrators go around the
school and look for things that are suspicious.
Mr. Reid thinks that we have a very good evacuation
plan because it is a plan where all students are accounted for. He is very
confident of it, and thinks that it is the best plan possible.