Sheffield — Police are investigating a Tuesday morning incident at Mount Everett Regional School in which a student made a verbal threat to use a weapon at the school in the presence of other students.
In an email sent late Tuesday to parents and families of Mount Everett students, Principal Jesse Carpenter said, “A student made a verbal threat late this morning with the possible suggestion of using a weapon in school while speaking to other students.”
The students immediately reported the incident to administrators and the school also received calls from concerned parents who were off-campus. The incident was also reported to school resource officer Trisha Zucco, who is also a Sheffield police officer, and an investigation commenced immediately, Carpenter said.
“At no time today, was there any immediate danger to any students or staff members,” Carpenter wrote. “The safety procedures the District has in place allowed us to handle this situation with little disruption to the school day, and with the majority of the population unaware that a threat had happened. School disciplinary action will be taken as appropriate.”
Beth Regulbuto, superintendent of the Southern Berkshire Regional School District, said she could not comment beyond Carpenter’s statement “to ensure there is no violation of the student’s rights, and to prevent any disclosure of the District’s security protocols and procedures.”
As part of those protocols, Regulbuto said Mount Everett families, district faculty and staff, and school committee Chair Jane Burke were all notified of the incident.
Regulbuto declined to say how many calls the district had received from parents or whether, as parents have told The Edge, there was an unusually high number of absences the next day because of fear.
“It was reported to me that the Mt. Everett administration received the normal number of calls in relation to this type of incident, and that attendance was consistent with this time of year,” Regulbuto said.
In an Edge interview, Sheffield police Chief Eric Munson said the situation is “sensitive” because juveniles are involved and the names of those involved cannot be released.
“We’re conducting a pretty thorough investigation, conducting interviews with all the parties involved and we haven’t completed that yet,” Munson said. “We should be completing it today or later this afternoon.”
Munson said, when the investigation is completed, he will issue a statement soon thereafter in consultation with the school district and the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office.
Asked if a weapon was recovered, Munson said, “I can tell you right now there was never a weapon recovered and there was never a weapon brandished but there was a pretty substantial threat made at the school by an individual.”
For her part, Regulbuto said the district will support the police department “throughout the investigation wherever necessary.”
“We’re just trying to get to the bottom of whether there was potential for it to be carried out, which, at this point, we’re saying no,” Munson added. “But until we finish all of our interviews and speak to all the parties involved, we don’t want to make any determination.”
