Crime & Safety

40 Percent Fewer Students At Alhambra High Today

Unspecified threat kept a lot of kids at home; Alhambra principal praises response by district and staff.

So far, despite one staff member and about 40 percent of the student body being absent, everything is normal at Alhambra High School today. A notable police presence on campus and TV trucks parked in front of the school are the only signs that this is not exactly a normal day at the school.

 On Wednesday, a district employee received an email about a threat at the school. Officials are not specifying the nature of the threat.

“We want to catch who did this,” said a Martinez police spokesman. “We don’t want to reveal details of the nature of the email.”

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Students and parents were advised through robot-calls on Thursday evening that the school had received a threat, but would be open for business on Friday. A scheduled blood drive was postponed, and the police presence was high on the campus.

Alhambra principal Nermin Kamel said that many students seemed a little apprehensive, but that was to be expected.

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“It’s fair to say that some students are concerned about the unknown,” she said. “That reaction is, of course, very natural and to be expected. Their presence heree, however, indicates that their families were confident enough to send them to school. In these situations, this is a personal and individual choice each family needs to make and we respect which ever decision parents and students chose to make today.”

The staff, Kamel added, “has been amazing. Their professionalism, calm and student centered focus has been exemplary.”

She added that the attendance at other district schools today was “not much affected.”

Two parents wrote to Martinez Patch saying their kids were in school today.

“He's there now. There's so many false alarms, cannot live your life in fear,” said parent Bill Frolich.

Tracey Schwarz said she took the district at its word.

“I believe the school officials when they say that the threat is not credible,” she said.

Others, though, kept their kids home to be on the safe side.

“If they can't track the source of the email, how do they know (the threat) is not credible?” asked Laurie Fahy. “Kept (my kids) home too.”

“Kept mine home,” said Crissy Villalobos Brady. “(The district) failed to provide adequate information to the parents thus not allowing us to make an informed decision on behalf of our children. Hopefully, with the lack of attendance today, they'll realize the importance of proper and timely communication.”


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