These days, N.J. schools are taking all threats seriously Friday, April 20, 2007 • BY MARK MUELLER • Star-Ledger Staff They've been scrawled on bathroom walls, phoned in to school administrators and typed in online chats. They warn of buildings blowing up and students or teachers dying in a blaze of gunfire. New Jersey's schools this week have confronted a wave of violent threats as the fresh memory of one mass murder, the Virginia Tech massacre, converges with today's anniversary of another act of horror: the killings at Columbine High School eight years ago. Mirroring a trend nationwide, schools across the state have been evacuated or searched by police. Administrators have sent letters home to parents, assuring them of their children's safety. In several cases, students have been arrested. At least a dozen incidents have taken place in just the past two days. Yesterday, Tenafly school officials shut down the high school early and ordered the Bergen County town's six schools closed today after a bomb threat referencing Columbine was discovered scrawled in pencil on a door. "With the vagueness of the threat, the tragedy at Virginia Tech and the specificity of the date, school administrators made the decision to close, and I concur," Tenafly Police Chief Michael Bruno said. "In today's world, we can't arbitrarily decide what is a real threat and what isn't." School officials and police faced a similar decision Wednesday in North Brunswick, where a caller threatened to "shoot up" the high school. The threat, ultimately deemed a hoax, resulted in a three-hour lockdown at the school. A 15-year-old girl was charged in connection with the threat yesterday. "From our experience over the last couple of days, everyone in the country is a little on edge right now," North Brunswick Mayor Francis "Mac" Womack said. "There are some people with some warped sense that makes them take advantage of other people's anxiety and discomfort. "It's an extremely harmful act even though it's just a hoax." The threats aren't nearly as pervasive as they were in the months after the April 20, 1999, killings in Littleton, Colo., where two Columbine students gunned down 12 classmates and a teacher. Soon after, the country's 15,000 school districts experienced "thousands and thousands" of threats, said Ronald Stephens, executive director of the National School Safety Center in Westlake Village, Calif. The numbers gradually declined, but Stephens said schools continue to see a spike in incidents each April, in part because of an increased number of threats and in part because students and school officials -- sensitive to the anniversary -- take even innocuous comments more seriously. Though he was aware of no specific threats in his area, Hunterdon County Prosecutor J. Patrick Barnes said his office was prepared for problems as the Columbine anniversary approached. "This is a week we circle on our calendars," Barnes said. "This a bad week historically, with the anniversaries of the Branch Davidians, Columbine, Oklahoma City and particularly with what happened Monday. We sit with out SWAT team to plan -- not to get anybody riled up -- but just to be aware of the constellation of events." Monday's rampage at Virginia Tech, in which a student methodically shot and killed 32 students and faculty members before taking his own life, has almost certainly provided a goad for those inclined to make threats, Stephens said. "Whenever you have a major crisis like what we just experienced at Virginia Tech, it seems to bring out the marginal crazies who want a day off or who take some pleasure in putting another threat out there," he said. That behavior has been seen around the country, with both schools and college campuses locking down or evacuating in 10 states Tuesday and Wednesday. In New Jersey, schools in Clark, Montville, West Long Branch, Manasquan and Berlin have been evacuated or closed in recent days as police officers mounted searches to look for bombs or guns following threats. Additional police officers will be in place at Roxbury High School today after a student yesterday discovered a note referencing Columbine in a boys' bathroom. Security also was increased at Cherry Hill East High School after a student discussed the Colorado school shooting in an online chat. The student, a 15-year-old boy, was charged with juvenile delinquency. Columbine is the main theme in most of the threats made public. The Virginia Tech shooting also comes up. Some have been less specific, noting only that a bomb is in place or that people will be shot. In some cases, authorities have found rumors of threats to be overblown or baseless. Two students who attend Watchung Hills Regional High School were questioned by Warren Township police Wednesday night in connection with threats to "shoot up/blow up the place," according to the district Web site. The school -- which draws students from Watchung, Warren, Green Brook and Long Hill -- did not go into lockdown, and after an investigation, authorities found no reason to bring charges. "There was no credible evidence of any threat," Superintendent Frances Stromsland said. In Scotch Plains, a student's home was searched in response to another purported threat. In that case, too, no charges were brought. Still, school officials need to take threats seriously, even if they seem transparently phony, said Stephens, the director of the National School Safety Center. "I tell administrators to think of the kind of news conference they'd like to give," Stephens said. "They could say, 'Yeah, there were some threats and we didn't take them seriously, and now we have kids shot.' On the other hand, they can say they contacted law enforcement, investigated, found no legitimate threat, and all is well.'" Staff writers John Mooney, Sharon Adarlo, Carly Rothman, Joe Tyrrell, Cathy Bugman and Rohina Phadnis contributed to this report. © 2007 The Star-Ledger. Used with permission.