North Brunswick parent grateful for town's handling of lockdown

As a parent of a North Brunswick high school student, I wanted to publicly express our great appreciation to all the officials from the school, township, and police in the way they handled the lockdown incident. I know there was a lot of debate about the decisions that were made and the steps that were taken, but the bottom line is that our students were kept safe, the school was not closed at the whim of a prank phone call, and the police made arrests within 24 hours of the event.

Our mayor and the team of officials communicated well with each other during a time of crisis, made reasoned decisions, and acted. Then, while the event was still fresh that morning, they announced that a meeting would be held that very evening at the school so parents could be fully informed about what happened and given the opportunity to ask questions. I was present at the evening meeting and was impressed with the demeanor of all officials in the face of some tough questions and a lot of emotions as they remained calm, showed great empathy for residents who felt so fearful, and most of all listened to both compliments for how they handled the situation and the criticisms, some of which were quite harsh. I personally applaud every decision they made and the way they made them.

It takes situations like these to lead to changes, and officials acknowledged they learned from the event and want to make changes, like getting a calling system to get more timely calls to parents. Not everything went perfectly, but more things went right than went wrong. As the week went on, we learned of the many other similar occurrences around the state and country, and in many cases schools closed as a result of a phone call. I'm glad we stayed open. You can't send a signal that you will close school based on every phone call, or we'll get many more calls trying to disrupt our schools. The officials made a judgment about the call and deemed it worthy of keeping school open. And again, they were right. That was capped off by quick arrests, and hopefully just punishment for the offenders.

Yes, there was a huge amount of fear and anxiety among parents and students during the few hours when there was not a lot of information that could be communicated. But let's applaud our officials for making the right decisions - at the right time - and for treating our students in a calm and respectful manner during a difficult crisis - and most of all, for keeping them safe.

Bruce Morbit

North Brunswick