RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA & KELLYANN LEMESSY

Home­land Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Roger Alexan­der says an ar­rest is ex­pect­ed soon as the in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to threats made against teach­ers at Rio Claro Sec­ondary School con­tin­ues.

Alexan­der made the dis­clo­sure yes­ter­day dur­ing a vis­it to the school, as part of a min­is­te­r­i­al team that in­clud­ed Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter Dr Michael Dowlath, Deputy Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice Ben­jamin, and Ma­yaro Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment Nicholas Mor­ris.

The vis­it fol­lowed a se­ries of threat­en­ing mes­sages cir­cu­lat­ed on so­cial me­dia plat­forms, some of which tar­get­ed teach­ers and their fam­i­lies.

While de­clin­ing to give de­tails about the sus­pect, Alexan­der said po­lice have been ac­tive­ly in­ves­ti­gat­ing the mat­ter since the first re­port was made.

“This mat­ter has been un­der in­ves­ti­ga­tion from the time it was re­port­ed, and it is be­ing han­dled by the Po­lice Cy­ber Crime Unit with as­sis­tance from in­ter­na­tion­al part­ners,” Alexan­der said. “We are con­fi­dent that the in­ves­ti­ga­tion is pro­gress­ing, and an ar­rest will be made in the near fu­ture.”

He stressed that the safe­ty of stu­dents, teach­ers, and the wider pub­lic re­mained the Gov­ern­ment’s top pri­or­i­ty.

“We will not take any threat light­ly,” Alexan­der added. “Our re­spon­si­bil­i­ty is to en­sure that every­one feels safe.”

Mean­while, Ma­yaro MP Nicholas Mor­ris said the vis­it was meant to re­as­sure par­ents, stu­dents, and staff who have been un­set­tled by the threats.

“We are here to let the school com­mu­ni­ty know that this sit­u­a­tion is be­ing tak­en se­ri­ous­ly,” Mor­ris said. “The Min­istries of Home­land Se­cu­ri­ty and Ed­u­ca­tion are work­ing close­ly with the po­lice and the com­mu­ni­ty to en­sure the safe­ty of the school.”

Mor­ris al­so said coun­selling and oth­er sup­port ser­vices were be­ing made avail­able to stu­dents, teach­ers, and par­ents af­fect­ed by the sit­u­a­tion.

Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter Dr Michael Dowlath said the min­istry has been mon­i­tor­ing de­vel­op­ments since No­vem­ber, when the first threats sur­faced.

“We have been en­gaged with the school ad­min­is­tra­tion, teach­ers, and par­ents from ear­ly on,” Dowlath said. “Our pri­or­i­ty is to en­sure a safe learn­ing en­vi­ron­ment, and we have im­ple­ment­ed mea­sures to sup­port both se­cu­ri­ty and emo­tion­al well-be­ing.”

He added that Stu­dent Sup­port Ser­vices of­fi­cers have been de­ployed to ad­dress fear, anx­i­ety, and stress among stu­dents and teach­ers.

The threats first emerged in No­vem­ber, when mes­sages cir­cu­lat­ed on­line ac­cus­ing teach­ers of racist be­hav­iour. In Jan­u­ary, ad­di­tion­al threats were post­ed on plat­forms in­clud­ing What­sApp and Tik­Tok. One mes­sage re­port­ed­ly in­clud­ed a pho­to­graph of a firearm and threat­ened harm to teach­ers’ fam­i­lies, while oth­ers warned of an im­pend­ing at­tack and ref­er­enced a teacher’s ve­hi­cle.

Po­lice re­ports were filed in Rio Claro on No­vem­ber 27 and No­vem­ber 29. How­ev­er, new threats sur­faced dur­ing the first week of the new school term, re­new­ing fear with­in the school com­mu­ni­ty.

Par­ents have al­so ex­pressed con­cern about send­ing their chil­dren to school. A meet­ing was held with par­ents, but at­ten­dance has been low.