Apr 18, 2018 By Cara Host for The Almanac writer@thealmanac.Net 3 min read

A group of Bethel Park High School students wanted to participate in April 20’s national walkout to end school violence, but their plans were thwarted by threats of violence.

School officials found two threats scrawled on a restroom wall at Independence Middle School. Both threats cited April 20 as the day when those threats might be carried out, prompting Superintendent Joseph Pasquerilla to suggest the district may cancel school that day during the board’s April 17 meeting.

School officials decided to close all schools April 20, which is also the 19th anniversary of the shooting at Columbine High School. Student activists organized a national school walkout to draw attention to the problem of school shootings. Another walkout was held last month, on the one-month anniversary of the school shooting in Parkland, Fla. Some Bethel Park students want to hold a memorial ceremony to honor those killed in school shootings since Columbine. Several students explained their plans at the school board committee meeting April 17.

The students told the board that they did not want their walkout to be a political statement about gun control. Instead, they wanted to make a statement in favor of a safe learning environment and to remember those killed due to school violence.

“We want it to promote unity, remembrance and kindness,” student Grace Evans said.

The protest might now be held at a later date due to the threats at Independence Middle School. He urged students and other community members to provide information about who might be responsible for the threats.

Bethel Park has been dealing with intermittent threats throughout this school year. School was canceled twice in September after a threat against the high school circulated on social media.

School officials have also dealt with threats written on bathroom stalls and for several months they implemented bathroom restrictions as a way to deter that behavior. High school students were not allowed to freely use the restrooms between classes. Instead, they had to sign out during classes.

The school board asked administrators to lift those restrictions in February, but since threats in the form of graffiti started showing up on the bathroom walls in recent weeks, school officials will once again restrict bathroom usage.

School board members bemoaned the disruptions these threats are causing. Some members questioned whether cancelling school was the best course of action, since that might be exactly what the child making the threat wants school officials to do.

“I’m 100 percent against cancelling,” board member Barry Christenson said. “I think we’re being manipulated.”

The district has implemented additional security measures and is in the process of hiring more police officers, but Christenson suggested that Bethel Park could do more. “If school officials are really concerned about school safety, perhaps more guards need to be hired and more everyday measures need to be taken, rather than focusing on one particular day that happened to be mentioned in a threat.”

Pasquerilla said the threat left him concerned. The district has ALICE training, which stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate, and staff members are trained in first aid.

“But I don’t know if you’re ever perfectly prepared,” he said. “I don’t see how making up the day is worth the risk.”

Anyone with information about the threats is urged to contact school officials or the Bethel Park Police Department.