Apr 14, 2008 6:48 pm US/Central
4 Local Schools Close Due To Threats At St. Xavier
Malcolm X College Also Closed For Separate Threat
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Threats of violence on one college campus have left several other Chicago schools closed for the day.
CBS 2's Joanie Lum reports that school officials say closing the schools is a matter of security; they'd rather be safe than sorry.
The schools closed Monday are Mother McAuley High School, Brother Rice High School, Queen of Martyrs Elementary School and Evergreen Park Southwest Elementary.
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Officials closed the schools because they are close to St. Xavier University, which closed Friday after threatening messages were found in a dormitory, claiming students will die on April 14th.
Malcolm X College has also been evacuated and classes have been canceled after a threat was made on Monday.
Twice this month, campus employees at St. Xavier found threatening messages in Regina Hall, a freshman dormitory. The second one caused university officials to take extreme precautions because it warned "Be prepared to die on 4/14."
St. Xavier University President Dwyer said, "This is a real enough threat we do not have these types of threats and when it was so specific to name a date, law enforcement said this is different from what we've seen at other college campuses and certainly at St. Xavier."
The president has not decided when to re-open the college. She said students and staff will be notified by e-mail, text messages and telephone.
Principals at the four local schools scrambled to alert parents by Internet, recorded phone message and personal phone calls. Altogether, more than 6,200 students are enrolled at those four schools.
Eight-year old Ellie Locante was shooting baskets in her grandmother's driveway Monday morning. Her mom and dad work, but didn't have to look far for childcare after Evergreen Park Southwest Elementary was closed for Monday, forcing the 3rd grader to stay home.
"They said we're going to be off because of some consequences and that's all I heard," Ellie said.
The hallways and gymnasium are quiet at nearby Queen of Martyrs Elementary School where pre-schoolers through students in the eighth grade were told to stay home.
Principal Mike Krsek said, "the police cars might be frightening for 3- and 4-year-olds to see all this, and it would be very difficult to justify why we are open and a major university is closed down right across the street."
Krsek added, "we do take the threat seriously and safety has always been a priority, it always will be a priority."
Queen of Martyrs will have to make up the day at the end of the school year. The four schools will be open Tuesday, but at Queen of Martyrs, children will not line up outside, they'll go right in and they won't have outdoor recess.
University officials haven't decided when St. Xavier will re-open.
Police parked cruisers at Queen of Martyrs and Evergreen Park Southwest Elementary School.
Canceled classes meant a yard full of kids playing at the quick family home. They attend Evergreen Park Southwest, where parents are glad the situation is being taken seriously.
"You've got to take everything serious these days," said parent Brian Quick. "And that's the main concern. Not sure that there's a real threat, but you've got to act on it."
The Archdiocese of Chicago says administrators from the four neighboring schools met Saturday, and that leaders from each school made their own decision to call off Monday's classes.
An archdiocese spokesperson says it's nothing more than a "standard operating safety precaution" based on the closure of Saint Xavier.
A block away, the halls of Queen of Martyrs normally filled with some 530 students, were empty Monday afternoon.
"Our close proximity being right across the street we decided that for safety's sake of our children and staff we would be doing the same thing," said Principal Mike Krsek.
For students at Brother Rice High School, thoughts of the potential for danger are difficult to escape.
"You don't really know if it could happen or not," said sophomore Dan Murray.
"I think it's scary because I live so close and it could happen like right next door to me," said sophomore J.J. Bird.
Mother McAuley and Brother Rice high schools share a property line on the western edge of St. Xavier's Chicago campus. Queen of Martyrs is just east of St. Xavier and Evergreen Park Southwest is also nearby.
The Brother Rice and McAuley Web sites indicate that all athletic practices, home activities and events are canceled as well and that everything will resume as scheduled on Tuesday.
Meantime, another university in Michigan is also closed Monday due to threats of violence specific to Monday's date.
Threatening graffiti found in three men's restrooms led Oakland University in Rochester, Mich., to cancel campus classes, sports and cultural activities for two days.
The school said it sent out a security alert Saturday after finding one threatening message, and officials said they found similar messages in men's restrooms in two other buildings later that day.
The school didn't reveal contents of the threats. But university Police Chief Sam Lucido told the Detroit Free Press that they referred to possible campus attacks on "4/14."
That is the same date noted in the threatening graffiti found at St. Xavier.
Lucido spoke Sunday with the head of security at St. Xavier, Oakland spokesman Ted Montgomery told The Associated Press.
"I don't think as of yet they've established any connection that seems reliable," he said.
Lucido told the Free Press that the Oakland University threats didn't target anyone specific, and that authorities believe the same person left all three threats.
The activities cancellation was in effect at the school for Sunday and Monday. Dormitories remained open, although Oakland University spokeswoman Michelle Moser said students were encouraged to go home if possible.
Campus officials "are taking this threat seriously and are closing to ensure the safety of the entire campus community," Lucido said.
The public university has about 18,000 students in Rochester, about 20 miles north of Detroit.
Campuses around Illinois have been on alert since a Feb. 14 shooting in which a gunman burst into a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University, killing five students and wounding 18 others before turning the gun on himself.
CBS 2's Joanie Lum and Pamela Jones, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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