Misinformation Creates Quite A Scare For Parents And Students In West Berlin Township
WEST BERLIN, N.J. (CBS) - Children play on the swings at the JFK elementary school in West Berlin as if they don't have a care in the world and that's how it should be. But for some parents and grandparents it's a different story .
"I was nervous, I was concerned. I have a four-year-old and an eight-year-old," said Mike Dodge.
Dodge is one of several Berlin Township parents who kept their children home from the school Thursday after getting a recorded phone message from the district superintendent Thursday morning. Others parents got texts and emails.
"The media in North Jersey took a very small story and made it very big," said Superintendent Brian Betze.
Nineteen-year-old Aakash Dalal who is charged with arson in connection with fire bombings of synagogues in Bergen County had blueprints of JFK Elementary School.
Berlin Police Chief Joe Jackson says it was incorrectly reported the blueprints were marked up for an attack. Dalal found the blueprints in a dumpster. Jackson says they were discarded by a contractor who had done work on the school.
"Investigators relayed back to me there was nothing marked on the blueprints for our schools," said Jackson.
But no one had that information this morning, setting off quite a panic, according to Betze.
"The concern I have is why we're so late in being notified," Betze said.
The Camden County Prosecutor's Office says it's because there was no threat to the school. They were told about the blueprints in Dalal's possession over a month ago, shortly after they notified Berlin police.
"They wanted to reassure us that there was no threat to our community, our schools or our children that go here," said Jackson, who also said informing the public was not an option.
"Some of the stuff that's law enforcement-sensitive, we can't divulge to anybody," Jackson said.
"It cost the district about $15,00 in subs because I had a meeting up here scheduled, we had to send them home and pay them," said Betze.
Betze says the anxiety it created for many parents resulted in 35 to 40 students staying home from school. The district has about 720 students in its elementary and middle schools.
