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Thursday, March 8, 2018

Andover school threat causes concern - mixed reaction on response

Former Wellsville Daily Reporter editor John Anderson now works in Batavia, but his local contacts remain strong. Although he works several counties away, he kinda broke an Allegany County news story today. On Facebook, he posted: "Andover school finally doing automated call because of an incident with a student. Building is closed rest of day can't leave without a parent. This morning an Andover student attending BOCES made a threat against another student. Campus is closed as a precaution. Superintendent addressed "rumors" in the call, but not making this call earlier just added to the rumors. So have a meeting and address this for next time. You must act swift." 
Facebook reactions were mixed. One person wrote:
“Our superintendent wasn't in the building and had no direct knowledge over the situation until just a short time ago, the principle and other staff at ACS did all they could to keep the situation under wraps. There had been multiple announcements to avert rumors from going too far, leading to having a massive freak out. The individual in question also didn't threaten another student, he threatened an adult- a teacher at Boces.”

Anderson replied: “I am in Batavia covering a murder, school arrest in LeRoy and more yet I knew about the Andover incident three hours ago, people posting about a lockdown. This is unacceptable. Quickly inform the public. Sorry the world changed.”

Another person replied: “I disagree. Why cause panic and have parents swarm the school and cause more problems? Rumors are nothing new and the students knew they weren't on LOCKDOWN so that definitely was someone spreading rumors. It's not the Superintendent’s job to monitor people on Facebook jumping to conclusions. Was I worried about my kids and friends at the school? Absolutely. Did I feel they were safe? Yes. I am sure if it was serious we would have known right away. They were taking precautions, I am thankful for that.”