LACEY – School officials said they learned lessons about how to keep kids out of inclement weather and how to communicate better after responding to a bomb scare at the beginning of the year.
Lanoka Harbor School was one of five schools across the state that had threats called into them on the same day, January 4. Sylvia Rosenauer Elementary School in Jackson was the only other Ocean County school. Authorities are still investigating the connections.
In Lacey, the investigation centers around what officials could have done better during the event.
“We didn’t do perfectly,” Board of Education President David Bidwell said at a board meeting January 17.
A communication plan needs to be improved to spread the information amongst administration, the board, and parents, he said. Also, the district needs a plan for inclement weather. On January 4, it was warm enough. However, if it was very cold, the district needs a plan to have the children bussed to another school or at least kept in the busses where they can be kept warm.
Superintendent Craig Wigley said that security elements of the plan cannot be discussed publicly but the inclement weather issue needed addressing. Fortunately, it was a false alarm and no one was hurt.
“We did things right, but we could always do better,” he said.
