U.S. HEALTH RESOURCES AND SERVICES

By Linda Trischitta, Sun Sentinel
2:50 p.m. EST, November 10, 2010

PEMBROKE PINES —

The nation’s sixth largest school district was placed on lockdown for several hours Wednesday after Pembroke Pines police received an unconfirmed tip that threatened violence but was not specific to a school or incident.

The lockdown that affected all 230,000 Broward County public school students, faculty members and employees in 275 buildings was lifted at 1:45 p.m. Wednesday.

Pembroke Pines police announced in a press conference that school dismissals will follow their regular schedules but that after school activities were cancelled by the school district. After care programs will go on as originally planned.
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“We’ve eliminated several suspects and our investigation is on-going,” Pembroke Pines Police Capt. Dan Rakofsky said.

Parents could still expect to see more police around schools than usual, he said, but that “the credibility of the threat has diminished since this morning to the point where we can step down security.”

Some charter schools and public libraries had also been locked down while police investigated threats that were relayed in an email and phone call to a radio station.

“We received information on a threat from a local radio station, indicating that a woman had called in this morning saying that her husband was going to respond to a school in Pembroke Pines and start shooting,” Rakofsky said about events that began for police around 8:40 a.m.

He wouldn’t identify the radio station involved or the caller or email writer.

Rakofsky said the e-mail indicated that “something big was going to happen” around county government buildings.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office and other county agencies were also notified about the e-mail.

At the school district’s Fort Lauderdale headquarters Wednesday morning, Broward School Superintendent James Notter would not elaborate on the nature of the threats other than to say that the lockdown that had begun earlier in the day at Pembroke Pines schools was ordered district-wide at 11 a.m.

He said that school district’s investigative unit, the Sheriff’s Office and Pembroke Pines police were working together.

That was not enough for some worried parents who simply wanted to see their kids and take them out of school.

At Lakeside Elementary School in Pembroke Pines, Cessilia Triana was among 40 anxious people who wanted to pick up children at 1:30 p.m., twenty minutes earlier than usual.

Triana was upset because, she said, “A SWAT officer told me I had to be 100 yards away from the school [entrance] or I was going to be arrested.”

Her five-year-old son was still in his Kindergarten class, as were the kids of the parents on both sides of the driveway at 900 N.W. 136th Street where Triana was cooling her heels.

“I’m freaking out,” the worried mom said.

Kids weren’t always told what was happening, but older students in high schools found out and were texting and tweeting from classes.

District spokeswoman Marsy Smith said cell phone use is not encouraged, not even during lockdowns, though she acknowledged many students contacted their parents anyway.

“We ask that parents go to the web site or go to rumor control hotline if they need to be assured everything’s OK,” Smith said.

Leslie Weiner has a 10th grade child at Cypress Bay High School and a 7th grader at Falcon Cove Middle School, both in Weston. She thought the district should make its notification system for parents mobile.

“They have these automatic calls and leave messages at home,” Weiner said. “Maybe the public schools need to set something up like the universities have, to send a text message so that everyone can know what’s going on.”

To pass the time, some seniors at Weston’s Cypress Bay High School watched movies, while others just read books or did nothing once that day’s lesson was finished.

The lockdown affected more than school children and their parents.

People connected to Nova Southeastern University were also notified that the Davie school was locked down. And at the county’s Pembroke Pines library and the Southwest Regional branch, which are both on school campuses, people were prohibited from entering or exiting the buildings.

Broward County spokeswoman Kimberly Maroe said Broward County officials increased security at other buildings but had not closed them or put them in lockdown status.

“County administration is aware of this situation and is working with law enforcement,” Maroe said.

As the lunch hour approached at school district headquarters, employees were lining up to get meals from the lobby vending machines because they could not leave the building for lunch.

Ben Levine was forced to wait among the lobby Thanksgiving decorations after applying for a substitute teacher’s license.

“I’m 24 years with the military, so this is no big deal,” Levine said about being detained. “I’m more worried about getting a ticket at the parking meter.”

But like a lot of parents, Levine was anxious, too. Security allowed him to leave at 12:40 p.m. because he had to pick up a child.

Joe Cavaretta, Gail DeGeorge, David Fleshler and Rafael Olmeda contributed to this report. Linda Trischitta can be reached at ltrischitta@SunSentinel.com.

Source: Sun-sentinel.com