Security questions after weapons charges for 3 Riverhead students
Parents at a Riverhead school board meeting Tuesday evening asked for security upgrades after three Riverhead Middle School students were arrested and charged in recent days for allegedly bringing weapons to the campus. Credit: Tom Lambui
Parents in the Riverhead school district are asking for extra security measures after recent incidents led to the arrest of three middle school students on weapons charges.
The arrests have prompted the district to alter plans for some end-of-the-academic school year celebrations. Tuesday, Superintendent Augustine Tornatore, in a phone message to the school community, said that “in an abundance of caution,” all moving up ceremonies will take place indoors. Plans for the high school graduation, usually held outdoors on the Mike McKillop memorial football field, have not changed.
At a Board of Education meeting Tuesday evening, several parents voiced their concerns and asked the district to consider implementing metal detectors or hiring armed security guards.
"The weapons were in the school … We want solutions," said Jason Ranghelli, the parent of a child who will be attending Riverhead Middle School next year. “I can’t fathom him being in a hallway with guns and knives.”
On Monday, a 13-year-old from Flanders was arrested and charged after officials at the middle school conducted a search of his locker and found a knife. Three days earlier, on Friday, two other students — a 13-year-old from Riverhead and 14-year-old from Flanders — were arrested and charged for allegedly bringing two knives and a BB gun to school. The weapons were discovered after school administrators learned about a “potential altercation” with weapons after school.
The three were each charged with unlawful possession of a weapon by a person younger than 16.
At the meeting, Tornatore said school officials were “reiterating to our students the seriousness of this behavior” and warned that students caught bringing a weapon to school would be “prosecuted to the fullest extent” of the law.
“This could mean police arrest and a police record, as well as suspension from school up to a year — which for our middle school and high school students could have serious consequences on their future graduation plans,” Tornatore said. He also urged parents to check backpacks and speak to their children about what concerns may prompt them to bring a weapon to school.
Authorities have not disclosed whether the arrests were related or what kind of knives were recovered in the searches.
District officials said security presence has been increased at all schools due to the recent incidents and the security team continues to work with the Riverhead Police Department. Two Riverhead police officers attended Tuesday evening's meeting.
Tornatore has said the district is considering additional security measures for next school year in addition to planned capital improvements that include remote access control to buildings, checkpoints for students to tap in and out with their IDs, new door alarms, sensors and enhancements to security alert systems in each of the district’s seven school buildings.
“For security purposes, we cannot reveal all our protocols and practices,” Tornatore said.
