Upper Moreland School District to reopen Tuesday after receiving 'non-credible' voicemail threat
UPPER MORELAND TWP., Pa - Public schools in Upper Moreland are expected to reopen Tuesday after a threat of violence turns out to be "not credible."
The parking lot at Upper Moreland High School was empty late Monday morning while school buses and vans sat idle behind a fence.
What should have been a busy start to the week was anything but.
Laura Norris moved to town in August. "We just moved to Upper Moreland from Philadelphia. We moved here for the schools. It was really shocking to get that call a 7 A.M., she said.
Mrs. Norris, her two daughters and their pet, strolled past the middle school shuttered at midday.
In an alert to parents, and a message on the district’s website, the superintendent reported a "threat of violence" left on a school phone line over the weekend and heard early this morning. The 3300 student district was shutdown.
Upper Moreland School District closed Monday after receiving voicemail threat: officials
School buildings and offices in the Upper Moreland School District will be closed Monday as officials investigate an anonymous voicemail threat.
Diana Gosciniak is the mother of three. She said, "I would hope that wasn’t a joke because that’s a serious joke to make- -obviously the safety of our kids is the first thing on our minds."
While police investigated, parents were left to shoot jump shots with their kids or walk the neighborhood.
Aware there was a threat, 4th grader Blakeslee Norris thought of filling her day. Holding her new, pink bike she said, "It’s pretty fun I get to ride my bike around and I get to do some other stuff- -don’t really know what I’m going to do today."
According to the Educator’s School Safety Network, a nonprofit focused on school security, false reporting of violence in schools skyrocketed in 2022-23.
Back in Upper Moreland, parents received early afternoon texts from the School District reporting the threat was "not credible", and likely the result of students sharing information through online games.