Although rumors of a planned "vague and unsubstantiated threat" scheduled for Friday at Jesse Bethel was deemed not credible by its principal on Thursday, that didn't stop approximately 1,000 students from being absent at the school on Friday, accorrding to Vallejo City Unified School District Public Information Officer, Celina Baguiao.
Jesse Bethel's usual attendance is around 1,400 people, meaning just short of 75 percent decided to not take a chance with the threat, which circulated over social media on Thursday afternoon. According to Baguiao the threat was not clear if it would be a shooting, bombing, etc.
Baguiao said that "everything went smoothly at the school" on Friday. There was two extra site officers and the Vallejo Police Department had more officers patrolling the area.
The district and Bethel Principal Kirsten Wollenweber said Thursday the threats, posted on social media, are not considered to be credible.
On Thursday afternoon, Wollenweber wrote the following to parents and guardians of Bethel students:
"Earlier today, we were alerted of rumors circulating on social media. We take threats of any nature very seriously. The Vallejo Police Department was called and we have shared all of the social media posts. Together, with school and district administration we investigated and have not found any evidence of a credible threat.
"Out of an abundance of caution, we are working with Vallejo Police Department to have a presence of officers, including extra site safety and administrators, on campus tomorrow. School will take place as scheduled tomorrow (Friday). Please remind your student that if they see or hear something unsafe, they should say something to a staff member."
Wollenweber went on to urge people to reach out if they had any questions or concerns.
Baguiao said it was a tough decision for VCUSD to determine whether students should come to school on Friday, but said that "we did our due diligence and because the threat does not seem credible and added police will be on-site, classes will go on.
"We want students in school and we want them to learn," Baguiao said. "But we're all a little nervous. We're on high alert from what happened in Oakland the other day (school shooting). It's a different world we live in today. The question we are all asking is how do we stop this?"
The threats come in a month of a series of violent incidents in Vallejo — including eight homicides in the last three weeks. Two weeks ago there was a shooting outside of Vallejo High School, where assistant football coach Joe Pastrana was shot in the upper hip by a suspect in a black four-door sedan while breaking up a fight on Nebraska Street. Pastrana is recovering from the shooting.
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