Three years ago, a teenager called in a bomb threat to Fredericksburg High School.

While that threat turned out to be a hoax, it resulted in Fredericksburg Independent School District reevaluating its procedures and making changes to deal with any future threats.

The bomb threat on Tuesday, May 16, made via a Snapchat account, was the first such new threat against the high school.

Students were transported off campus and then sent home as bomb-sniffing dogs from the San Antonio Police Department and law enforcement officers searched the campus and found nothing.

While many parents felt there were snags and complications with FISD’s new procedure for dealing with threats, Supt. Eric Wright said the current plan is here to stay.

“We handled the incident as we were supposed to handle it,” Wright said. “Our job is to safeguard the students and staff and go through emergency management protocol.”

The superintendent acknowledged that it’s not a perfect system and said a committee evaluates how protocol went and what needs improving.

Old protocol

The previous bomb threat against FHS was in 2014. The person charged with making that threat has since pled guilty to also making bomb threats to Louisiana schools.

“Then, the only system we had was a one-size-fits-all system,” Wright said.

That one notified all staff members and parents immediately.

As the school worked to deal with the problem, parents flocked to the high school.

“It became a management problem,” Wright said. “People blocked Friendship Lane and Texas 16, and it was a mess.”

New protocols

After debriefing following that incident, school officials felt an updated emergency management program was needed.

“We changed our protocol and it was totally internal,” the superintendent said. “It was so much more efficient than it was last time. We have several different mechanisms to make sure everybody on the inside of the system was informed. Compared to last time, I think we shaved almost an hour and a half off the entire protocol in getting kids from Point A to Point B with all picked up and by the appropriate person.”

Due to campus security concerns and a need to not give any future assailants an upper hand, Wright declined to give further specifics about the security measures.

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