Sofia Williams
News Editor
A shelter-in-place was enacted at Costa on March 31 from 10:45 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. in response to an allegation that there was a firearm on campus.
Those on-campus were required to stay inside their classrooms during the shelter-in-place but were allowed to continue instruction during the period of its enforcement.
“[Principal] Dr. [Karina] Gerger, the leadership team, and the district office consulted and confirmed that it would be in our best interest to hold a shelter-in-place until we could assess that everyone on campus was safe to return to normal activity,” said Vice Principal Jennifer Huynh.
The shelter-in-place was enforced due to allegations that there was a gun on campus. These concerns stemmed from a note found in one of Costa’s bathrooms that stated that an individual was in possession of a firearm on campus, according to Huynh.
The note was first found by a student, who informed their teacher, who then made Costa’s administration aware of the situation, according to Huynh.
“We [Costa’s administration board] take all threats seriously, whether the offender is being serious or not,” said Huynh.
The cause of the shelter-in-place was subject to speculation from students due to an image of graffiti that was circulated among the student body in reference to its enactment, according to sophomore Rylee Tretiak. This image, as well as others that have been dispersed, are not related to the enactment of the shelter-in-place, according to Huynh.
“It is important that everyone understands how they can have a part in a situation like [the shelter-in-place],” said Huynh. “Things that get passed around through social media can spread like wildfire. Sometimes this irresponsible information sharing can disrupt our attempts to uncover the real information.”
The image in question, which portrayed graffiti on a school shed, was sent to Costa administration and police simultaneous to their investigation of the incident. The image of graffiti had been taken several years prior, according to Huynh.
“I saw two photos circulating,” said Tretiak. “One was of graffiti on a shed, and the other was of a note that said someone had a gun on campus.”
When Costa’s administration first received notice of the note, a meeting was taking place with district office representatives. According to Huynh, consultations took place immeditely after receiving notice. Administration then called school resource officer Donovan Torres.
“It was a collaborative effort to determine what the best decision was that would keep our campus safe,” said Huynh. “After contacting our school resource officer, we decided to investigate every single piece of [the threat]. That’s when we did a full sweep of the campus and asked for more reinforcement from MBPD to assist us.”
If the administration were able to determine the individual responsible for the threat, then Costa’s leadership and local police forces would have to conduct an investigation into that individual. According to Huynh, Costa has a zero-tolerance policy for any type of threat to the community.
“I was a little nervous, but since we’ve experienced similar threats before I was confident that it would be taken care of,” said Tretiak.
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