Saratoga News

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Sheriff, Saratoga High investigate potential online threat by student

By Shannon Burkey

A Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department deputy was dispatched to Saratoga High School on May 15 to investigate possible threats made by a student in an online journal.

The posting, which referred to May 26 as being "bloody," alarmed students and parents as that particular day is the school's senior prom.

Several students who read the posting on the author's online journal notified their parents and school officials.

"It caught our attention and it's something we take very seriously," said Saratoga High School principal Jeff Anderson.

But after closely reading the posting and talking to the student, Capt. Terry Calderone of the sheriff's department said it was not meant as a threat to anyone.

"He did put it out there, but it wasn't meant in the way it came out," he said. "The posting was about personal issues and his personal feelings. We don't feel there is any real threat to the prom or the school itself."

Anderson said the posting had a vague reference to the student's heart bleeding and that there was no target.

"Nothing we've seen has pointed to anyone in particular or to a particular group. They were journal communications not directed toward anyone," Anderson said. "There is a reference to Saturday night, but there is no reference to prom. The word prom isn't even in there. It's very unclear what the student was meaning and to say that there is a serious threat out there is premature."

Law enforcement and school officials talked to the student, who has not been back to school since the incident, to find out what he meant when he posted the journal, according to Anderson.

In the age of the Internet, Anderson said it is common for students to write their feelings in an online journal instead of a handwritten on and sometimes they may not realize other people can read it.

"We wonder why someone would put something up where everyone can see it if they don't want anyone to see it, but for many of these kids there is a disconnect between posting things and the presumption of privacy," Anderson said.

Saratoga resident Mary Keating-Guercio has three children at the high school and said that these days threats really need to be taken seriously.

"Normally I would dismiss it, but after Virginia Tech, we unfortunately have become a society where we can't dismiss anything anymore," she said.

Councilwoman Kathleen King also has three children at the school, one of whom will be attending the senior prom.

"I know they have to take things very seriously now, but I have a lot of confidence in our sheriff and principal, and if they say the situation is handled, then I'm sure it is," King said.

School officials are going through things methodically, Anderson said, to ensure the safety of their students, but they don't feel there is a real threat at this time.

"We need to be vigilant, but it's important not to read something into this and assume the worst is going to come out of it," Anderson said. "We're trying to ascertain where the student is coming from, then make the determination of what to do next."