College students inside a Lengthy Island highschool stated they had been left terrified and confused in the course of the response to a hoax capturing menace Thursday — and a few stated they had been even compelled to maintain taking their assessments as armed officers cleared the constructing room by room.
Teenagers inside Lengthy Seaside Excessive Faculty stated they’d no concept what was occurring when the varsity went into lockdown, and described a chaotic scene of panicking college students barricading themselves into lecture rooms or hiding underneath their desk for hours as cops stormed the halls.
Some college students, who had been solely at school to take a check that day, stated they had been watched over by heavily-armed officers with loaded rifles as they had been compelled to complete, unable to give attention to the examination and nonetheless unaware of what was occurring.
“Typically you stop the test and go hide,” senior Nick Melnikov, who was within the fitness center taking a Spanish remaining when the lockdown went into full-effect stated. “But they were like ‘nah go finish your test,’ and then the cops walked in and were watching over us with guns as we took our test.”
Melnikov, whose examination was scheduled to finish at 10:30 a.m., stated he wasn’t allowed to depart till 2:30 p.m., caught within the faculty and shuffled from room to room for hours after ending his check.
Different college students, like senior Sophia Ferrera, had been in school when the lockdown began and stated she and her classmates spent over 90 minutes in a darkish room silently hiding underneath their desks till police cleared them.
Regardless of being traumatized by the scenario, she stated the worst half was that faculty officers then made college students return to class as if nothing had occurred.
“I thought they were just going to let everyone go home,” Ferrera stated, shocked that she was compelled to go to her subsequent class after that have.
“I couldn’t focus, for the rest of the day I just kind of floated. Nothing felt real,” she stated.
After police cleared the constructing, the lockdown was downgraded to a “lockout,” which means no person is allowed to enter or exit the constructing — however college students arriving later within the day for his or her assessments had been being let inside all afternoon, whereas these inside weren’t allowed to depart, The Publish confirmed.
The menace, which turned out to be a hoax name made out of California, claimed a 15-year-old pupil armed with an assault rifle was focusing on Lengthy Seaside Excessive Faculty as a result of he was “tired of being bullied.”
Dad and mom, in the meantime, stated they had been stored at the hours of darkness all through your entire disaster — unable to select up their kids regardless of seeing college students enter and solely studying concerning the scenario by frantic textual content messages from their children.
“I think the police handled it beautifully, but I think the school dropped the ball,” stated Joe Meola, whose little one barricaded herself in a classroom with a desk in opposition to the door for over two hours.
“They didn’t tell any parent what was clearly happening or what our kids were actually going through — and my daughter was freaking out, she was having panic attacks and said she felt like she was going to throw up,” Meola added.
He and different mother and father are actually questioning what would occur if the same scenario had been to unfold subsequent 12 months, as cellphones are actually banned in colleges statewide.
“Next year the kids cannot have cell phones — what if something like this happens again, God forbid,” requested Mike Doty.
The Lengthy Seaside Faculty District declined to remark.
