Photo Courtesy of Google
St. Francis Prep School is located in Fresh Meadows
By Michael V. Cusenza
Following a series of online postings threatening violence at St. Francis Preparatory School earlier this month, some parents of the high school’s students called for the installation of metal detectors at SFP’s front entrance.
“In light of the recent social media threats, we, the parents of the SFP students, respectfully request that Metal Detectors be installed at the Main Entrance of the School and that all other entrances are locked and alarmed at all times. This is the only way to ensure that a gun, or other weapon, can’t be snuck into the school,” Thalia Misthos wrote in a petition on the crowdsourcing site change.org addressed to SFP Principal Pat McLaughlin.
“In addition, there should be a police officer at the entrance at all times. We request that this be done before the school re-opens to in-person learning.
“We all have the same goal; the safety of our students and staff. The parents are happy to support the school in any way possible in order to make this happen.
Courtesy of change.org
The change.org petition is looking for 500 signatures.
Thank you, in advance, for considering our request.”
The threats first began to appear on Instagram on Jan. 14. The NYPD investigated the threats and searched the Fresh Meadows school.
“At this time, there is no imminent threat to students, faculty, and staff,” McLaughlin wrote in a message posted on the SFP website. “Immediately following the report of the threat, local law enforcement from the 107th Precinct and school officials began an investigation and actively investigated throughout today. Police officers, the canine unit, detectives, ATF officials, and investigators from the joint terrorist task force all collaborated on this effort. All law enforcement officials concluded that there was no credible threat; however, the Administration will be in contact with law enforcement over the weekend should additional information come to light. Additionally, we understand the concerns regarding some students’ social media accounts being tagged in some of these posts are unsettling. We are confident such students are not associated with the person who created the threat; unfortunately, social media accounts that are not set to private have vulnerability. We urge all students with social media accounts to take necessary precautions to avoid strangers from finding their accounts. More suggestions about safe-guarding social media and a person’s ‘digital footprint’ will be distributed by our Technology Team in the near future.”
