It seems, according to Garden City Police Commissioner Ernest Cipullo, who addressed concerns at the Thursday, June 3 Village Board Meeting, that word spread throughout Garden City High School that a student or multiple students in New Hyde Park Memorial posted a note within their school stating, "If you thought Columbine was bad, wait to see what will happen at Garden City High School" and a date of June 1 was given as the date for the incident to take place. It was not officially confirmed by the GCPD if the note in New Hyde Park Memorial was actually found, but word of the threat was passed on from student to student here in Garden City. Lieutenant Jackson told Garden City Life earlier last week that the same kind of note was discovered in East Islip, without mentioning their school, and the girls who wrote the note there were arrested and their story printed in local papers, perhaps providing the idea for this rumor.

Students at Garden City High School have told Garden City Life that on the Friday before the Memorial Day holiday weekend, Principal Okulski announced over the loudspeaker that students would have no need to fear as the school would be checked thoroughly and secured by the police, but the district respected their concerns and would allow them to either remain home or be signed out of school by parents. According to several parents in the district who went to the high school to sign their students out that day, approximately 700 out of about 900 students either stayed home completely or chose to be signed out. EPOA President Eileen Murphy commented at the Village Board of Trustees Meeting that she signed her grandson out of the high school and added that she thought it was "an interesting solution" to allow the families to decide whether or not to send them to school. She also noted that the faculty remained in the building and continued to conduct the day as usual.

Cipullo noted that it was not the GCPD who made any decision in whether or not to keep the school open. They, along with the Nassau County Bomb Squad, did a full sweep of the school on Monday, when it was shut for Memorial Day. They spent three hours in the school and then worked to secure the building. Lt. Jackson commented over the phone that the school was also checked Tuesday morning before the students entered.

Jackson stressed that there was no letter found in Garden City High School or threatening phone calls. The building was not officially evacuated at any time and nothing was ever found in the school. No faculty saw anything suspicious. Principal Okulski was unable to comment beyond saying that it was all just a rumor and that the school was still open without official district approval to comment and Dr. Wilson did not make himself available for comment.

Garden City Life called District Attorney Denis Dillon's office to inquire about the penalties a student could face should they decide to jump on the bomb threat bandwagon. Any individual who calls or writes in a bomb threat will be arrested and not only will this result in a criminal record, but that individual could spend a year in jail. Individuals under 16 years of age will have to face the County Attorney, rather than DA Dillon. The DA's office noted that whatever reason anyone could conceive of to threaten their school certainly seems not to be worth it when weighed against the life altering repercussions of such an act.

Cipullo noted that bomb threats have plagued the entire country in the last month and that it will probably continue until school is out. Many parents noted that they hope students at Garden City High School will remember the students arrested in the beginning of this school year for lodging threats against the high school and think about their college plans and future careers before they do something they think is just a silly prank, but is a criminal offense the authorities take very seriously.