School District Sends Letter Regarding Threats

In a letter e-mailed to district parents and posted on the district Facebook page, Spring-Ford Superintendent Dr. David Goodin responded to rumors of a threat at the Ninth Grade Center. 

As reported early this morning, Upper Providence Township Police and district officials have been investigating these rumors. Chief Donald Sherid of the Upper Providence Township Police said that officers have been at the school for the last three days. 

"We've interviewed probably 15 or 20 students who were possibly involved in spreading the rumor or named in them. Their parents were notified, and we talked to them," Sherid said. 

In addition to the letter to parents, an assembly was held at the Ninth Grade Center on Thursday morning so that Goodin and an Upper Providence police officer could address all the students at once. 

Sherid said, "We [the police] are satisfied that there was never a credible threat. There weer some inappropriate messages being sent via text and social media. but nothing that was a criminal act."

Sherid said that the rumor kept spreading through electronic communications, and that some students were helping to proliferate the rumors. 

"We wanted students to be aware of the danger in even jokingly threatening something like this, but to also remind them that if they do have credible firsthand knowledge that they should tell someone," Sherid said.

Sherid said that police are doing extra patrols around the school for the next several days.

A district spokesman said that the district would like everyone to know that they always take these sort of incidents very seriously and will investigate any such rumors to the fullest possible extent.