Stockbridge — At the Berkshire Hills Regional School District’s Committee meeting on Thursday, February 16, Superintendent Peter Dillon reviewed how the district responded to the recent incident where the district was swatted. (“Swatting” is a term for the harassment whereby emergency services are deceived into sending a response team to an address.)
Over time, there have been numerous swatting incidents at schools and residences throughout the country. This particular incident took place on Tuesday, February 14 around 11:20 a.m. when, according to Dillon, someone made a phone call to the school’s dispatch center threatening “explicitly to bring a gun to the high school, and, to paraphrase, ‘shoot everybody up.’”
Dillon said that the threat was relayed to the Great Barrington Police Department. “And this created a whole set of responses tied to our training,” Dillon said. “At the high school, we did a formal lockdown, and then both at the middle and elementary schools. [Great Barrington Police] Chief Paul Storti along with two officers from Stockbridge were there very quickly, along with officers from Great Barrington and many surrounding towns. At first, we believed it was real. But ultimately we realized it was part of a bigger swatting incident.” Dillon said that there were multiple swatting incidents throughout the state on February 14 and subsequently on Wednesday, February 15.
“The good news is that everybody is safe,” Dillon said. “The bad news is that it is profoundly disruptive and anxiety-producing for everyone. If you’ve got previous trauma, victimization, or anxiety, it’s even worse for staff and students.”
In reflecting on the incident, Dillon said that “we learned that there are some things we could do better. I’m not even talking about those things because a lot of it is kind of insecurity [to discuss it], but a big ‘a-ha’ we had was around communication.” Dillon explained, “It’s clear that parents prefer texts rather than phone calls. In a school context, in the middle of an emergency or a perceived emergency, phone calls are a terrible thing. If I do a robocall or recorded call to all of the staff, and if somebody forgot to silence their phone and there’s an assailant in the building, ringing up somebody’s phone could alert [the assailant] to somebody who is trying to hide or be saved. So going forward, I’m going to reach out to parents and families with texts, phone calls, and emails, [and] I’ll reach out to staff with texts and emails, but no phone calls.”
Dillon said that the school district would also work on the reunification process for students and their families. “For many [families], it’s their natural reaction to rush right to the schools,” he said. “In reality, we prefer that people don’t rush right to the schools because the time we invest in interacting with [families] who are rushing to school makes it harder for us. But again, it’s human nature.”
Dillon added that a few hours after the incident, the district held a Zoom meeting that allowed town officials to speak with families. “It’s really unfortunate that [the incident] happened, but it’s the best dress rehearsal we’ll ever have,” Dillon said. “I think there are some learning opportunities for us. Right before this meeting, I sent a note to the staff for supporting the students as they manage their own anxiety around this. It’s heavy duty and it’s unfortunate, and I’m sad that we have to train in response to these things. I’m glad we’ve done pretty good with our training, but we have way more work to do going forward.”
Meanwhile, various news outlets have reported that the FBI has started an investigation into the threats.
