A recent bomb threat at Salk Middle School in Levittown prompted administration to evacuate the building on Friday, April 11.

According to Assistant Superintendent of Administration and Personnel Darlene Rhatigan, two students informed Salk Principal John Zampaglione around noon about a message in the boys' bathroom. The message read in blue ink, "I'm setting off a bomb at 2:50 p.m."

School officials immediately performed a quick building perimeter check to ensure the entranceways did not have anything near them when they moved the students. Central administration was immediately notified and the Nassau County Police Department was called to the scene.

"The school's team went into normal practice evacuating students," Rhatigan said. "So it was pretty calm." "The kids were brought over to MacArthur High School and put in the gym and auditorium by about 12:30 p.m."

A search team was formed and classrooms, closets and unlocked areas were checked. The building was completely evacuated from 2:30 to 3 p.m. "just in case something was missed" Rhatigan said.

After-school activities were canceled, however the building was reopened from 3:30 to 7 p.m. for students to be escorted by a parent to retrieve any belongings.

"The staff cooperated," Rhatigan added. "We had about 20 teacher volunteers coordinating the escort process."

Parents were notified through the district's new ConnectEd system, an online notification system.

"It helps us get messages out to the whole district within an hour," Rhatigan explained. "When we were just sending it to the Salk parents via their cell phone or whatever they want to be contacted on, it takes 10-15 minutes for them to be notified. They all knew immediately and we could give them additional messages as things came up. That was really instrumental in helping us keep the parents informed."

The student responsible was caught because of a school policy regarding bathroom use. Salk students are currently required to sign their names in order to use the bathrooms.

"We were able to right away get those [sign in] sheets and pinpoint a handful of kids who used that particular bathroom during that same time frame," explained Rhatigan.

Several children were interviewed by school administrators and one ultimately confessed.

The student was arrested and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The situation is now being handled by the Nassau County Police Department in collaboration with the school district.

A similar incident occurred at MacArthur High School in mid-February after the handwritten note, "I Will Kill Every 1 on 2/15/08" was found on a bathroom stall. The school was on lock-down procedures for two days without incident and the person responsible was never identified.