Opinion

Threat questions

Tuesday, March 26, 2002

Dear Editor,

Just an opinion on the bomb threat at the McCook Schools (last week).

I do not understand why, with a bomb threat at the school, in light of all that has happened of late, does the school administration choose to put our children at jeopardy.

Why were grade school children instructed to look in their desks for "anything unusual?" Why were they then instructed to look in their backpacks for "anything unusual"? Why did all the schools lock the children inside? Why were none of the parents notified?

I can understand why the news media was not at liberty to air the problem; after all I feel the news media reveals too much some times, under the public guise of "we have a right to know."

In my opinion, which isn't worth much to anyone in authority in McCook, The junior and senior high students could have walked to the Armory building on West 7th; the grade school students could have been bussed to the auditorium, the law enforcement called, a dog could have checked out the buildings for explosives, and the students resume classes if nothing was found.

If the administration felt the students may be in peril by going outside, maybe not allowing parking immediately surrounding the school during school hours would allow authorities to easier spot any suspicious vehicles and be able to check them.

Law enforcement can only help if they are notified I also believe that if I had any children in this school system I would not have stopped with calling Open Line, I would have gathered all the parents I could and met at the school building. And everyone with children should definitely be at the next school board meeting.

Our children are a precious commodity; let's keep them safe. Thank you for allowing me to voice my opinion.