Unsubstantiated reports that a gunman had barricaded himself inside a Manhattan high school led to the school being placed on lockdown on Thursday, with upset parents lashing out at a ban on cellphones after the scare.
At 9:40 a.m., a 911 call was made to Louis D. Brandeis High School reporting that an unknown man had locked himself in a school bathroom with a gun, sending confused parents rushing to the Upper West Side campus looking for information.
“Why not just never take away his cell phone again?” his mother, Serena Elias, told The Post.
Elias' daughter, Adriana Vega, a third-year student at the campus's Urban Careers for Green Education program, said the ban was only lifted this year.
“My daughter had her phone so she was able to find out that the school was on lockdown this morning. Other than that, there was no communication from the school to us whatsoever,” she said.
After years of plagued by uneven attendance, safety issues and low graduation rates, the entire campus, which is divided into several smaller schools, was placed on a hard lockdown for an hour and a half. The lockdown ended after police searched the building but found nothing, authorities said.
The scare comes as the city is considering a district-wide ban by 2025, a plan whose progress has been halted by logistical complications and concerns from parents and teachers unions.
Aaliyah Thompson, 15, a junior at Urban Career for Green Education High School, said she has been following the lockdown situation through social media on her phone.
“I saw it on Instagram and some of the kids were saying SWAT teams were coming in on the first floor. They were taking the kids out one by one,” she said.
“i am happy [I had my phone] “I texted my mom and my dad,” Aaliyah added. “My dad kept me updated on everything that was going on. He let me know from afar what they were doing.”
There are five smaller schools on campus, including four high schools: Frank McCourt High School, Global Learning Collaborative, Innovation Diploma Plus and Urban Assembly for Green Careers.
The fifth school is Upper West Success Academy, a charter elementary school that is part of the popular Success Academy network of charter schools.
Global Learning Collaborative is the only school that bans cell phones.
Earlier, Treasurer David Banks addressed the “complexity” of a cell phone ban in an interview with WNYC's Brian Lehrer.
“We've heard from a lot of parents saying, 'Absolutely not.' We're watching a tragedy happen in a school. [the Georgia school shooting]”It scares parents,” Banks explained.
Conversely, he says, there's no doubt that cell phones are a “distraction.”
“Kids are so connected to their phones that they can barely concentrate on work,” he said.
“About 350 schools have already banned cell phones, and a preliminary survey conducted this summer showed that another 500 or more are considering implementing policies this year,” Banks confirmed to The Washington Post.
