Officials on alert after campus bomb threat

Deepa Bharath

COSTA MESA -- A bomb threat scribbled on the wall inside a Costa Mesa

High School girls restroom has prompted Newport-Mesa school officials to

beef up security on the campus to deal with the threat -- reportedly set

for Friday the 13th.Two female students who walked into the restroom

Tuesday morning saw the threat on the wall and reported it to the

school’s security officers, said Assistant Principal Steve Pavich.

“It basically said that a bomb would go off here on Friday the 13th,”

he said Wednesday.

The school district has hired a private security agency to handle the

situation, said Pavich. Security officers from the agency and police

officers will comb the campus and check lockers beginning Thursday night

and will stay on through the school day Friday, he said.

Anxious parents and curious students have already approached

counselors and school officials inquiring about the incident, said

Pavich.

“We expect Friday will be a light day attendance-wise,” he said. “The

word gets around even in a school with 1,850 kids.”

The local Police Department and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department

have been notified about the threat, said Costa Mesa Police Lt. Dale

Birney.

“The sheriff’s bomb squad has made it abundantly clear that they will

be available to the school [Thursday] and Friday,” he said.

The bomb squad would likely help school officials by bringing in

bomb-sniffing dogs.

Costa Mesa Police has also offered to help the school, said Birney.

“We’ll do whatever the school wants us to do,” he said.

Birney added that while it is important for the school to take

security measures, the heightened attention could lead to future copycat

threats.

“Now they know they are going to get a reaction if they do something

like this,” he said.

The school, however, “is taking this threat very seriously,” said

Pavich.

“We’re going to try and keep only one entrance open so we can control

who comes in or goes out,” he said.

Such unfortunate incidents take away a lot of valuable time from

school officials, Pavich said.

“We lose time that we can spend planning curriculum and making things

better,” he said. “It’s really sad.”