School remains opened for the day
By ZEINAB NAJM
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN — Police are investigating threats made against the Advanced Technology Academy overnight March 22 to 23.
“Measures are in place, as always, to ensure every school in Dearborn will be safe today,” Police Chief Ronald Haddad said in a release March 23.
ATA was open for the day, unlike other schools and districts across the state that closed as a result of threats. Michigan schools have seen an increase in threats since the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High shooting in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14.
Since the shooting, The Educator’s School Safety Network reported Michigan received 41 violent threats against school between Feb. 15 and Feb. 28 ranking the state fifth behind Texas, Ohio, California and Florida.
Detroit Police Chief James Craig said March 22 that his department has investigated 40 threats since Feb. 15 with 23 of those coming March 20 and 21.
Across Michigan, schools were closed March 22 and 23, including 37 in the metropolitan Detroit area, according to WDIV Channel 4.
Oak Park Schools and Fitzgerald Public Schools were closed March 22 and 23, Hazel Park Schools was closed on March 23, Redford Union High School was closed on March 22 after a soft lockdown on March 21, and Hamtramck and Horizon high schools closed March 22, as was the building that houses Farmington Central High School and Farmington Community School-Early Childhood Center. Cornerstone Schools released students from its schools at 11 a.m. March 23 due to threats.
(Zeinab Najm can be reached at [email protected].)