Dear Parents, Guardians and Staff,
I’m writing to you this evening to thank you for your patience, cooperation and understanding regarding the incidents on our main campus. I think it’s fair to say, it was a nerve-racking day for many of us, but especially for those with children at our main campus schools. As a parent myself, I appreciate the anxiety that is felt when you receive an emergency alert from your child’s school and that is why we communicated everything we could to our impacted families as soon as possible.
Here’s a recap of what happened today: At 11:25 a.m. a lockdown was initiated at C.W. Baker High School after students informed staff members that another student had what they described as a “BB Gun.” We put Durgee Junior High School, Elden Elementary School and our main campus buildings on lock out and we closed our main campus to traffic. Law enforcement officers immediately started to investigate the incident and located the student in question. Police recovered what is believed to be a plastic Orby gun and are continuing to investigate the incident. An Orby gun, also known as a gel blaster or splatter ball gun, is a toy that shoots small, water-absorbent gel balls (similar to Orbeez). With the all clear from law enforcement, we released our lockouts on our main campus. However, moments later, a staff member in our District Office received a threat over a phone call. We reinstated the lock outs on the main campus as police investigated this second incident. Police determined there was no danger to the school community and we lifted our lockouts for dismissal. Due to the nature of these incidents we canceled all after school and evening activities districtwide and closed the main campus for the remainder of the day.
We encourage you to talk to your children about today’s events and reach out to their principals/counselors if you feel they need extra support. We will have counseling support in place for students who need it on Friday.
Local law enforcement will continue to investigate both incidents and our district’s Code of Conduct will be strictly enforced. In regards to the threat we received via phone, police have identified the caller and determined that there is no credible threat to our district. Out of an abundance of caution, all Baldwinsville Central School District buildings and grounds will continue to operate with additional security measures for the remainder of the week. This includes extra law enforcement patrols on our school grounds.
On behalf of the district, I would like to thank the Baldwinsville Police Department, Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office and the New York State Police for investigating these incidents. Thank you again for your cooperation and understanding today. Have a restful evening.
Sincerely,
Dr. Joseph M. DeBarbieri
Superintendent of Schools
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