Nov. 6, 2001 – A thousand Addelita Cancryn Junior High School students were evacuated from the school campus shortly after 8 a.m. Tuesday as the school received what its principal said was its first bomb threat.
Half of the students were sent to the Joseph Aubain Ball Park in neighboring Frenchtown, and the other half went to the athletic field at the western end of the school grounds.
Assistant Principal Selassie Francis, shepherding the students in the ball park, explained the separation of students is part of the school's crisis management plan. It took the students about five minutes in an orderly march from the school to get to the ball park. Francis said the school had received a call from a 911 operator at about 8:05 a.m. reporting a bomb threat.
Principal Yvonne Pilgrim remained at the school awaiting the Police Department bomb squad, which had not yet arrived at 8:45 a.m. Pilgrim said school resource officers had received the call from the 911 operator.
With Pilgrim was Leon Powell, Fire Services deputy inspector, who said he was nearby when the call came in and went to the campus immediately. Powell and fire inspector Richard Lindo joined Pilgrim in awaiting the police bomb squad, which Powell said he believes consists of two officers.
Standing guard at the Cancryn main entrance, Powell said it is his responsibility in the event of a bomb threat to make sure the school is evacuated, to secure the grounds and to ready the school afterwards for reoccupancy. "Nobody gets in or out after we get here," he said.
Powell said he wasn't able to call out to try to locate the bomb squad because the frequency of a cellular phone or a radio could set off a bomb.
Standing with folded arms and gazing at her empty school, Pilgrim was upset. She said this was the school's first threat. "They ought to find and expose the people doing these things," she said. "The students are missing out on their education. At least they have a place to go, but I hope to have them back in school shortly."
The students seemed to take it in stride, sitting in the ball park bleachers as if awaiting the first pitch. Special education teacher Madelyn Lake-Thomas wasn't quite as accepting of the situation, as she sat huddled among the chattering students. "I think they're searching the school now," she said, obviously worried. "We want to get back in class."
Police Chief Jose Garcia and his St. Thomas-St. John Deputy Chief Theodore Carty were out of their offices and could not be reached for comment Tuesday morning.
