FAILURE: Greenwich Superintendent of Schools William McKersie Emergency Management Plan Gets Failing Marks In Its First Test

A 19-Year-Old Byram Joker, Gianfranco Romero, Is Arrested For Breach Of Peace After A Greenwich High School Lock Down.

After extensive planning and study by the highly compensated employees, the schools emerency management  plan was put to the test when a Greenwich High School student, became upset at a joke and called 911 directly from a cell phone, triggering a massive police response.

Greenwich Superintendent of Schools William McKersie said he thinks school officials made the right call in locking down the building, despite not finding any guns or weapons on the teen aged Romero.

At one point it looked like they could end the lockdown, but then they realized there was a second student they needed to find and interview about the joke.

GHS Headmaster Christopher Winters made a school-wide announcement that officials had taken “control of the rumor” and discovered no weapons.

Mr. Romero’s Facebook profile page, seems to indicate that he likes to joke around a lot. The Facebook profile lists him as a member of GHS Class of 2013 who is studying “sexology” and lists his work as “dancing.” He is friends with the Greenwich Mountain Lion, a profile created two years ago lampooning frequent sightings of the wild feline in town.

Greenwich First Selectman Peter Tesei, who also serves as the town’s police commissioner, immediately called a meeting of the Board of Selectmen at Town Hall into recess upon learning of the lockdown.

Also despite finding no gun, the Greenwich Police Department searched the suspect's Byram home and no weapons, violent video games or manifestos were found.

First Selectman Tesei was whisked to the school, where the lockdown had been lifted just before noon and shaken students congregated outside the building’s main entrance.

Administrators decided to continue with the school day after the joke causing lockdown was lifted, as a way to get back to normal. 

The school did offer counseling to students, upset about the joke causing lockdown.

But parents questioned the judgment of some teachers who, when the joke causing lockdown was lifted and classes resumed, had their students take tests.

There is also no word yet on whether students who took the oportunity to go home early will be penalized.

Looking back on what happened, some parents said they think the response may have seemed a bit out of proportion based on the outcome, but that it was appropriate, particularly in a post-Newtown world.

Michael Gianopoulos, 15, was in the bathroom when he heard teachers and students running in the hallway. As he left the bathroom, a teacher grabbed him and pulled him into a computer lab room where other students were and told them all to go to the back of the room as teachers locked doors. He said no one knew what was going on.

“We were hearing rumors of guns going off,” Michael told local reporters outside the school. “A lot of people were a little bit freaked out and scared.”

This joke should help the Greenwich Police Department hire the addition police officer that they want at the Greenwich High School.

The increase in manpower would cost $80,000 to $100,000 annually in salary and benefits.

Maybe they should just get a security plan that works. 

There was confusion among authorities about which keys to use to lock and unlock the doors at the school. Students reported that teachers had to run to offices to grab their keys, and some weren't able to lock their doors.

When and how to get the word out to parents is also something Superintendent of Schools William McKersie needs to evaluate. 

No one was harmed during the joke causing lockdown, which many of the 2,800 students chronicled in real time via Twitter and text messages, and caused major gridlock along East Putnam Avenue as concerned parents rushed to the school.

Many parents rushed to the school after their kids, huddled in corners of their classrooms, texted the wild rumors flying around about the incident. 

There were texted reports of gunfire and students being shot.

Perhaps we should thank the 19 Year Old inappropriate joker and the student who misinterpreted his poor taste in humor for showing Greenwich parents and taxpayers that Superintendent of Schools William McKersie's Emergency Management Plan failed its first test.
As we said above....

There was confusion among authorities about which keys to use to lock and unlock the doors at the school. Students reported that teachers had to run to offices to grab their keys, and some weren't able to lock their doors. 

When and how to get the word out to parents is also something Superintendent of Schools William McKersie has not properly evaluated.. 

No one was harmed during the joke causing lock down  which many of the 2,800 students chronicled in real time via Twitter and text messages, and caused major gridlock along East Putnam Avenue as concerned parents rushed to the school. 

Traffic to the school should be blocked to all, but emergency personnel. even if the Cos Cob Fire Police Patrol has to block the US 1 intersection to to the high school.

Clearly, an off school gathering site for parents needs to be set up so that emergency personnel can actually get to the school via US 1.

Maybe, Greenwich First Selectman Peter Tesei, who also serves as the town’s police commissioner should also maybe go to the off school site to help keep parents informed in an emergency situation at the high school=.

It is easy to dump on a 19 year old for telling an inappropriate joke, but it is not so easy to hold highly paid town employees responsible for an emergency response plan that had many failings.

The Greenwich Police Department searched the suspect's Byram home and no weapons, violent video games or manifestos were found. 

The 19 Year Old Gianfranco Romero, whom police described as “highly cooperative,” is scheduled for arraignment April 19 in state Superior Court in Stamford.

And the teenager will be held accountable for the inappropriate joke. 

Unfortunately, the good people of Greenwich will be too busy crucifying the teenager from the Byram town, and wont have time to hold those highly paid Town of Greenwich employees accountable for an emergency plan that failed many critical tests yesterday