Bomb threat forces evacuation of Peabody High School

PEABODY – Administrative staff at Peabody Veterans Memorial High School were quick to act Tuesday morning when they discovered graffiti announcing a possible bomb threat.”The threat was made for 9 a.m.,” said high school principal Ed Sapienza. “But we found it earlier.”Police were called to the scene at approximately 7:15 a.m., at which time students were immediately and orderly evacuated from the school. They remained a safe distance away in the field house until given the green light to re-enter the building. The cold temperatures were not kind to the students, as many stood outdoors without their coats, but no one complained, said Sapienza.”Students were in and out of that building and back to work as if nothing had happened,” he said. “They exercised it perfectly, and I’m happy this ended up not being a situation.”Sapienza said he originally withheld specific details of the incident so as not to unintentionally promote the acts committed by one student, who has yet to be identified.”I don’t want to encourage this behavior,” he said. “It’s sad that someone would do this. If a kid has a gripe, by all means, bring it forward.”Sapienza said his door is always open to students with any issue.”If you’re feeling desperate or angry, bring it to me,” he said.Those responsible for the threat could face expulsion, but not just from Peabody. Sapienza said that as a high school principal, he has the authority to prevent expelled students from mandatory entrance into any other public high school across the state.”The consequences are dire,” he said. “We live in a very sort of tense society. This is not to be tolerated.”In the end, Sapienza said the unfortunate event served as a drill for the school and city emergency response teams, to which they responded accordingly.”I want to praise the police and fire for working together,” he said, adding that he’s also very pleased with how the students handled the situation.