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Student arrested after threatening to ‘shoot up’ school

Posted at 3:55 pm February 22, 2018
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Note: This story was updated at 4:40 p.m.

A Robertsville Middle School student was arrested Thursday after threatening to “shoot up the school,” authorities said.

The Oak Ridge Police Department received a report of the threat at 9:59 a.m. Thursday. The alleged threat came during a moment of silence for the victims of the school shooting in Florida, the ORPD said.

The 13-year-old male student was immediately removed from class and taken to the principal’s office where two ORPD officers conducted an interview, according to a statement from police. The student admitted to saying he was going to “shoot up the school,” but he apologized and told officers he was joking and did not mean it, the statement said.

Officers also interviewed a parent of the student who confirmed that the teen does not have access to any firearms at home. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Education, Front Page News, K-12, Oak Ridge, Police and Fire, Police and Fire, Slider, Top Stories Tagged With: disruption of a gathering, false reporting, harassment, James Akagi, Oak Ridge Police Department, ORPD, Robertsville Middle School, school shooting, threat

Guest column: School safety update

Posted at 12:40 am March 27, 2014
By Trina Baughn Leave a Comment

Trina Baughn

Trina Baughn

Since the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Oak Ridge Schools and the Oak Ridge Police Department (ORPD) last August, a number of significant safety improvements have occurred within our schools including physical security upgrades, leadership adjustments, and increased police presence.

As you may know, this time last year, we had only one School Resource Officer (SRO) covering our entire school district. Now we have two full time SROs, two Support Services Unit (SSU) officers manning satellite offices, and the Adopt-a-Cop program, which provides officer time in all of our schools via daily check-ins. A third satellite office is in the works as ORPD Chief Jim Akagi and Superintendent Bruce Borchers are presently working on stationing an SSU officer at Robertsville Middle School.

Chief Akagi recently invited me to join our SROs on a walk-along at the high school to personally observe the impact of these changes. He also encouraged me to tag along with our S.W.A.T. team during a threat assessment exercise. I took him up on both offers and, as a result, am sharing what I learned. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Guest Columns, Opinion Tagged With: active shooter, Adopt-a-Cop, Bruce Borchers, Jim Akagi, law enforcement, memorandum of understanding, Mike Swigert, MOU, Oak Ridge Schools, Oka Ridge Police Department, ORPD, outreach, physical security, police presence, Robertsville Middle School, Robin Smith, safety, school resource officer, school safety, school shooting, Sherrill Selby, SRO, SSU, Support Services Unit, SWAT

Anderson County school security good, improving

Posted at 11:40 am February 8, 2013
By John Huotari 1 Comment

Information from WYSH Radio

During a joint workshop between the Anderson County Commission and the Anderson County School Board on Thursday, schools’ security director Joe Fogerty outlined security measures already in place across the system and discussed future plans for school security.

Fogerty told a large crowd in the Clinton Middle School auditorium that there are currently eight uniformed, armed school resource officers and a DARE officer patrolling the county’s two high schools, four middle schools and alternative school, and those officers are available to answer calls at the nearby elementary schools. Fogerty also said that there are currently 259 surveillance cameras in nine of the county schools and that similar cameras are being installed on school buses.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Education, Government, K-12, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County, Anderson County Commission, Anderson County School Board, emergency response plans, Joe Fogerty, Newtown, photo identification, school resource officers, school security, school security task force, school shooting, surveillance cameras

Clinton schools to be patrolled by uniformed officers

Posted at 12:18 pm January 17, 2013
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Information from WYSH Radio

The Clinton city schools may have been closed today but when they do re-open, students and staff will be protected by uniformed police officers.

In the wake of the Newtown, Conn., school shooting in December that left 20 elementary school students and six adults dead, school and city officials tried to find ways to protect children close to home.

The city and the school system are splitting the $50,000 cost for the officers through the end of the semester and will look for funding options when the budget process begins later this year to keep the officers there all the time.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Education, K-12, Top Stories Tagged With: Clinton, Newtown, school shooting, schools, uniformed officers

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Classifieds

Public Notice: NNSA announces no significant impact of Y-12 Development Organization operations at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

ADFAC seeks contractors for five homes

Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC) is a non-profit community based agency, … [Read More...]

Public notice: Draft environmental assessment for Y-12 Development Organization at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

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