Study: Massachusetts Gets More School Bomb Threats Than Any Other State

By CHARLENE ARSENAULT (Patch Staff)

The scenario has become all too common, but no less unsettling. Parents scramble to get updates and information on the situation when a bomb threat gets called to their child's school. Students are all too familiar with lockdown, shelter-in-place, and evacuation scenarios.

On Jan. 19 alone, Massachusetts dealt with an influx of threats called in to schools in Arlington, Tewksbury, Monson High School, Groton, Newton, Plymouth, Weymouth, and Billerica. No credible threats were found.A second threat was made to Tewksbury schools just three days later. Across the state, calls persisted into February.Wilmington received a threat on Feb. 22.

"While there is clearly an increase in threats, rapid growth has occurred in the last four months," said the study. "January of 2016 saw 206 schoolbased bomb threats, an average of more than 10 threats per school day - the highest number recorded to date."

Tom Scott, executive director of Massachusetts State Superintendent of Schools, described the frequency of these threats as unprecedented in 45 years of working in education.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in terms of disruption with what’s going on with these kinds of bomb scares,” he said in an interview with Patch earlier this year. “The amount of time educators are going to have to spend today managing and having to think about, and planning for all the issues related to public safety is extraordinary.”

California and Ohio reported the most bomb threats since 2011, but widespread instances of automated calling threats that centered on east coast schools in December and January "altered this dynamic in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Maryland," the study said. Those three states now experience bomb threats the most frequently, according to the study.

During the first half of the 2015-2016 school year, bomb threats occurred in 48 of the 50 states, said the study.

A new study released by the Educator's School Safety Network found that there were 745 bomb threats in United States' schools in the first half of 2015-2016 school year. Seventy-five of those were in Massachusetts, making the state far and away No. 1 in terms of number of threats received. Ohio was second, with 59 reported threats, New Jersey with 50 and Florida with 49.

Amanda Klinger, one of the researchers of the study, told MassLive that the current trend of threats don't necessarily fit the stereotype of a threat, where a student calls to get out of school or skip a test.

A vast majority of the calls are false, and 49 percent are made by phone, with 11 percent made by social media or email, said the report.

Fifty-eight percent of the school year's bomb threats occurred in high schools, said the study. A numberof other threats took place at middle and elementary schools or settings with "much younger students."

"These 'nontraditional' targets of bomb threats contain extremely vulnerable populations and are often ill-equipped and trained to deal with crisis events," said the study.

The uptick in these kinds of threats to schools shows a remarkable shift in safety concerns involving school officials, police departments and parents. While decades ago, the biggest concern might be a power outage or a fight in a classroom, today's world faces vastly different safety issues.

The Educator's School Safety Network recommended that "It is critical for educators and emergency responders to be equally involved in training, prevention, and response as it pertains to violence in schools – particularly in terms of bomb-related incidents. Educators must secure a prominent 'seat at the table' and be active, equal partners in preventing and responding to bomb threat incidents."

Has your child's school received a bomb threat? Are you concerned about a threat being made to your child's school? Share your thoughts and comments below.

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Photo courtesy of Massachusetts State Police.