At the recent Government Press Conference on Monday, February 5th, 2024, Chief Education Officer, Mr. Bren Romney, was on hand to explain particular aspects of schools’ security.
His presentation came on the heels of recent disturbances, particularly at the Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School (ALHCS) where alarming threats of armed attacks on the school via social media were made, which resulted in a temporary closure.
“The entire Anguillian community is concerned about the recent threats to the ALHCS campus that have been circulating via social media,” Mr. Romney said. “We have made some improvement in terms of how security is deployed. Lately, we have made changes to a number of our procedures, and we have also made significant upgrades to the security infrastructure at the campuses. However, work is still ongoing to bring the security system up to an optimum level.
“The recent threats that were made through social media have created significant disruptions to the flow of normal operations of the ALHCS. We have to take each threat seriously, irrespective of the fact that they have not actually panned out. In so doing, we have to safeguard the students and teachers that are under our care.”
He said he is asking the community to assist the Education Department by not sharing the material when it is posted. He appealed to the public, stating that if anyone knows of persons who prepare these threats they are asked to kindly cooperate with the Royal Anguilla Police Force as long as they would have helpful information or insight as to the source of the threats. He insisted that the police would need such information to assist in their investigations.
“The Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School is the responsibility of us all,” Mr. Romney said. “It is not just the Department of Education or the Ministry of Social Development and Education or the Government which is responsible. The school belongs to us all. It is our school – our lone secondary school. How we regard this school matters because it is the area that prepares our students for the next level in their education.”
He said that he would like to thank the parents, in particular, for their understanding and patience during the disturbance. He thanked the teachers and students, as well, for the civic way in which they have dealt with these threats in the current security climate.
“We will continue to do our best in making the school environment safe for our students and teachers,” Mr. Romney reiterated.
The recent threats of gun attacks at the ALHCS have caused warranted concern and have resulted in the closure of school for a short period while the threat was under investigation and the authorities were satisfied that all was clear. In October of last year, an ALHCS student was shot and killed and two others were injured on the Webster’s Park during the lunchtime interval.
