Photo by Yael Katzwer
Columbia High School was placed under a lockdown Nov. 10 due to reports of a student with a weapon in the school. The student was apprehended and no one was injured. A former student was arrested later that day in connection with the incident. After the lockdown had ended, squad cars lingered in the area as police continued their investigation.
MAPLEWOOD / SOUTH ORANGE — Maplewood and South Orange residents were alarmed Monday afternoon to see police cars and news vans surrounding Columbia High School and to receive text messages from their children informing them that the school was in lockdown. Families then received a message from acting Superintendent James Memoli that a lockdown was in place, but that “all students are safe and everything is under control.”
Columbia was placed into a code red lockdown that began at 12:40 p.m. and ended at approximately 2:18 p.m., at which point everyone was released to resume classes, according to the district. During the lockdown, Maplewood police searched the building as “a precautionary measure.”
“High school administration has been informed of a potential threat involving a CHS student and a former CHS student possibly involving weapons,” Memoli and CHS Principal Elizabeth Aaron wrote in a letter to the community Nov. 10, a copy of which was sent to the News-Record by the district. “The administration notified the Maplewood police, who then initiated the code red as a precautionary measure.”
South Orange police were onsite, as well, at the request of Maplewood police, according to a release from the Maplewood Police Department.
According to the district, one student, a juvenile, was arrested. According to the Maplewood police, the student was in possession of brass knuckles. A former student, age 18, was also arrested at his South Orange home Monday night in connection with the lockdown. According to the letter from the district and the release from the police department, the investigation is continuing at this time. Anyone with information on this incident should contact the Maplewood Police Department Youth Aid Bureau at 973-762-3400.
Despite the day fraught with tension, district officials pointed out that district protocols were followed to the letter.
“Code red procedures were followed with police going door-to-door to check all rooms before clearing the code red,” Memoli and Aaron’s letter stated.
“Many students were outside the school because the lockdown began during a lunch period. Security guards and administrators were outside with the students. Nobody was harmed during this event,” the letter continued.
According to the release from the Maplewood police, the department “received excellent cooperation from school staff and students.”
In the letter, Memoli and Aaron thanked the police, school staff and administrators, and students for their cooperation, and reaffirmed that “the safety of our staff and students remains our first priority.”