AHS students return to school
By: Frank C. D’Amico
UPPER FREEHOLD — Superintendent Robert Connelly had wanted to examine the school district’s emergency policy. He got the opportunity much sooner than he expected.
A bomb scare the morning of May 4 at Allentown High School — during Dr. Connelly’s first week as superintendent — forced the evacuation of the facility, but proved to be bogus, State Police spokesman Sgt. Al Della Fave said.
Students went back to school at the normal time Friday without disruptions, Dr. Connelly said.
Sgt. Della Fave said some time late on May 3, someone wrote a threatening message on the wall of a high school bathroom. The threat stated there was a bomb in the school’s gymnasium.
Then on May 4, several suspicious gym bags were found on the floor of the boys and girls locker rooms. Sgt. Della Fave said the school has a “no gym bag on the floor” policy and AHS administrators were concerned when bags were found.
The students were evacuated by 10:30 a.m., Sgt. Della Fave said. Students were sent home from school beginning at 1 p.m., school officials said.
Three bomb-sniffing dogs were brought to the scene, including one from the State Police Bomb Squad and one from Monmouth County Corrections, to examine the bags.
The bags were found to be “harmless kids’ bags,” Sgt. Della Fave said.
“By 1:30 we were done and satisfied the building was clean,” Sgt. Della Fave said.
Dr. Connelly said “certain things really pleased me” regarding the evacuation process.
“We have a detailed emergency management plan in place and the evacuation procedure, the supervision of the students and their transportation all went well,” he said.
He said the State Police did “an outstanding and thorough” job and constantly kept him updated on the situation.
“This district had done an awful lot of work on the management plan so our response to a situation would be systematic,” said Dr. Connelly, who previously was superintendent of the Delaware Township, Hunterdon County, School District.
He said he hoped “this was an isolated incident” and the search for the culprit is ongoing.
“This opportunity wasn’t one I wanted to have, but nonetheless it was a way for me to examine our policy,” Dr. Connelly said.