Schools

Decision Not To Lockdown Schools Was The Right One, Police Chief, Board of Ed President Say

Children were in no danger in the wake of yesterday's stabbing at the Bayville ShopRite

 

Berkeley Board of Education President Steven M. Pellecchia says the proper precautions were taken to ensure students in the H & M Potter School were safe in the aftermath of a stabbing at the Bayville ShopRite yesterday.

"He could be anywhere, but he's not in our schools," Pellecchia said of the accused assailant, who was apprehended later this morning.

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Police Chief Karin T. DiMichele said she had assessed the situation with school Principal Jeffery S. Zito and decided that keeping the children indoors was right choice.

"We had no reason to believe he would head to any of the schools," DiMichele said.

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But DiMichele had police officers stationed at all four elementary schools during dismissal times as a precaution.

All of the outside doors at all four district elementary schools are always locked and visitors need to be buzzed in, Pellechia said.

"No one can get in unless they are buzzed in," he said.

In an actual lockdown, children would have to hide under their desks, blinds would be drawn and each individual classroom would have been locked, he said.

"That would have been devastating for the children," Pellecchia said. "What Mr. Zito did was absolutely right. He kept the children in school."

The H & M Potter School is about a quarter of a mile away from the Bayville ShopRite, where Christopher Page is accused of stabbing employee Noah Jackson three times around noon on Friday.

Students at the Bayville Elementary School on Route 9 were also kept indoors yesterday, Pellecchia said.

Page has not yet been apprehended, DiMichele said this morning.


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