The following message is from North Albany Middle School Principal Andrea Piper.
Dear Families:
The safety of students, staff and faculty is a priority for North Albany Middle School and the City School District of Albany, which responds immediately to threats of any kind. I am writing to update you on an incident regarding safety and security, and to ask you to plan to have your student attend school as usual next Tuesday.
On Thursday at about 10:45 p.m., we received a confidential report that an individual was planning to go to our school with a gun on Friday and begin shooting. District security worked with the Albany Police Department through the night to investigate the threat. As a precaution, we switched to distance learning on Friday for our students as the investigation continued.
The individual behind the threat has been identified as a student. The district will follow procedures outlined in its Student Code of Conduct to determine disciplinary consequences.
As a district, we are thankful that a member of the school community stepped up and felt safe in reporting this information to us. We continue to encourage parents, guardians and caregivers to talk to their students about acceptable and unacceptable behavior and keep the lines of communication open. We also work hard to make sure our schools are places where people are comfortable reporting potentially dangerous situations to us.
Here are some ways you can encourage your student speak up and speak out.
- We all play a role in the school safety. Tell your student to be observant and let an adult know if they see or hear something that makes them uncomfortable, nervous or frightened.
- Students can provide important information that may prevent harm either directly or anonymously by telling a trusted adult what they know or hear as well as submitting information through our online district contact form at albanyschools.org/contact
Please be assured that the safety of students, faculty and staff is of paramount importance to North Albany Middle School and throughout our school district. The district will continue to assure that threats of any kind are reported to the proper authorities, thoroughly investigated and accurately communicated to students, families, faculty and staff.
