TOMS RIVER – An incident at Toms River South Intermediate School has been discussed online, and although parents might never know the exact details of the incident, officials are telling them that they don’t need to fear for their children’s safety.
Although it was described as a “fight” online, Superintendent David Healy said that’s not accurate. A school spokesman had referred to it as a “conflict” in the cafeteria, which caused police to come.
Al Della Fave, spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, said that Prosecutor Joseph Coronato had been in contact with Healy.
“Our role is to ensure that everything goes well in juvenile court,” Della Fave said. The school would be responsible for discipline.
Since it is a matter involving juveniles, officials declined to release details about the case.
The lack of information coming from official sources caused people on social media to speculate as to what the incident was.
Healy said that some people have been knowingly sharing false stories on social media, and compared it to people yelling “fire” in a theater. This causes school and police officials to waste time looking up false leads.
“We take every threat seriously. If there was any threat to children or staff, the parents would be notified” and the children wouldn’t be brought back to a dangerous environment, Healy said. “Parents and community members need to put their faith in school officials and law enforcement officials. We would never put children in harm’s way.”
The district has $5 million in security upgrades planned, he said. In the wake of the school shootings in other parts of the country, school officials have gone over the security of all of the schools in the district with local police and the prosecutor’s office.
