“The System Worked”

Last night, a father of three school-age children in the Bridgewater-Raritan School District told me that “the system worked.” He was, of course, referring to the alleged bomb threat at the high school on Garretson Road, one which was providentially averted when an unidentified female student reported to authorities that another 16 year-old student spoke of his plans to allegedly carry out that threat.

When I first heard about this through an e-blast sent out by the B-R Superintendent of Schools, I hesitated to write about it right then and there. The situation had such a high emotional content that it would have been too easy to write some pretty dumb things. Better to let it settle down and get some perspective.

It turns out that this father was right. The system did work. And it is highly edifying to discover that the process and procedures in place at the B-R High School had one key ingredient in place, without which chaos could have struck: the guts of that female student to do what needed to be done.

High school administrators and the on-site police officer have consistently encouraged students to come forth with any information that might somehow threaten the safety of the student body. That is official policy.

Yet peer pressure to conform and to distrust authority can be at its peak during high school years. No student wants to make a mistake and to look like a snitch within his or her peer group. The prospect of a teen being shunned by others is not a pretty one.

So I repeat the words of the father who told me that “the system worked.” And it did so because of one kid who knows the difference between right and wrong and who was willing to stick her neck out.

We in the Bridgewater-Raritan community cannot praise enough the courage that it took to disclose this potential catastrophe. It’s a great Christmas gift to all of us.

Note: Please see this afternoon’s plea to parents by School Superintendent Michael Schilder concerning rumors and student texting in school.