Bryn Mawr Receives Repeated Threats of Violence

On Monday, October 12th, Bryn Mawr School received an anonymous call threatening armed violence against the school. Immediately, the school kicked into action, calling the police and implementing a school-wide lockdown. Across the bridges, the Gilman administration soon received word from Head of Security Mr. Robbie Wright ‘06, who briefed Head of School, Mr. Henry P.A. Smyth. They decided to implement a shelter-in-place order, which differs from a lockdown in that people may do as they please without leaving a building. 

Fortunately, the threats turned out to be hollow, and after an extensive Baltimore Police sweep of Bryn Mawr’s campus, the lockdown was lifted there, and so was the shelter-in-place at Gilman. 

Though worrying, an isolated incident would not have been highly unusual; in fact, many Gilman Upper Schoolers recall a bomb threat made in the Middle School spring of 2022. Sadly, threatened and real violence against schools is a major problem nationwide, with countless shootings and many, many more threats of violence made against educational institutions.

Normally, the story would end here. However, three days later, on Thursday, October 15th, Bryn Mawr received a second anonymous phone call, this time threatening violence by means of both weaponry and a potential bomb threat. The entire previous process was repeated, and again, no threat was found. Nonetheless, many teachers, parents, and students were shaken by the calls' close proximity.

The experience of Upper School Math Teacher and Middle School Volleyball Coach Ms. Laura Soden, who currently has a child at Bryn Mawr, encapsulates the negative impact of these threats. Initially, she described, “I was coaching middle school volleyball… I got my first notification from Gilman saying we're sheltering in place… then I got texts from Ruvna [a safety platform for schools] from Bryn Mawr telling me that they were locked down.” As an educator, her first concern were the people in her care “I'm an expert compartmentalizer,” Ms. Soden said, “So I was thinking about the boys in front of me, and then trying to just be confident that the people at Bryn Mawr were going to take care of them [her child].” Thursday was “much more off-putting.” Despite the negative, Ms. Soden highlighted the exceptional response of Bryn Mawr, recounting, “Ms. Sadler [Head of Bryn Mawr School] sent out a really nice email explaining their process...You could tell that the people at Bryn Mawr truly care… I appreciate the adults over there who I think did the best that they could in a really scary, weird situation.”

Another teacher affected by these events was Gilman’s Director of Bands, Mr. Peter Lander, who also has children at Bryn Mawr. He remembered, “I was in a full band rehearsal. It's sixth-grade band…I put my kids in lockdown, which meant turning off the lights, locking the doors, and making them be quiet.” It was particularly stressful because, as he recalls, “I was receiving texts from everyone asking me to tell them what was happening…My biggest concern was wondering how my youngest kids were processing it…I was like, is my six-year-old or eight-year-old being told that they're in a lockdown because someone threatened to come in and shoot people? Because if so, that's scary for a little kid.” When it happened on Thursday, he reacted differently, articulating, “My reaction was that I know that this isn't real, because why would it happen again? This seems to be a repeat offender, and I wasn't concerned that that one was real.” Similarly, Mr. Lander was impressed with Bryn Mawr’s response, saying, “I thought the school handled it perfectly.” 

One silver lining was that these events served as a stress test for Gilman’s security procedures and ability to communicate in a crisis. One of the biggest points of confusion for many was the difference between the shelter-in-place and a lockdown. Mr. Wright clearly differentiates the two, explicating first on shelter-in-places. “We will go into a shelter-in-place if there is a potential threat near our campus,” he said, “We restrict movement outside of our buildings. So, in that scenario, as we did, we would call everybody in the community into the buildings… movement outside the buildings is heavily restricted.” This is in contrast with a lockdown, which Mr. Wright explained, “is when a threat is actively on our campus. In that moment, that's when we're asking people not only to remain in the buildings, we're asking them to find a room or safe space, lock the doors, turn the lights off, close the blinds, stay quiet, and await further instructions.” 

In response to these thankfully hollow threats, Mr. Wright explained, “We've been actively reviewing our procedures here on campus. We’re asking: what work would work during the lockdowns? What can we improve from the shelter-in-place? I think a big piece is improving communication. Making sure we clearly communicate and ensuring everyone is trained to an appropriate standard.” 

One of the most visible issues the school has now been able to correct is surrounding its dismissal protocols in the event of an incident. “In a shelter-in-place situation, we may find ourselves in a situation where it might be best for us to do a controlled dismissal, meaning instead of our different divisions operating normally, it might be more controlled where one student is allowed outside at a time,” Mr. Wright commented, “There was confusion from a communication standpoint on how we were [dismissing students]…that is something we need to clean up.” 

Overall, Mr. Wright was positive, noting, “What I was most happy with is that members of the community rallied not just for our campus, but also rallied for the Bryn Mawr students who were here and those from RPCS who were here on our campus. I think it was great to see that we didn’t just fall apart…we handled it as best as we could, and we learned a lot of lessons from it.” 

Mr. Smyth had a similar message, lauding the community in his remarks: “It was negative, but we stepped up and did the right things in those moments, and as awful as it was, particularly at Bryn Mawr…people were patient; people listened; [and] people followed directions. I really appreciate that, and it reinforced the value of Mr. Wright, who’s knowledgeable and can think through these situations in clear ways. I already had a great appreciation for him, but these moments reinforce that appreciation for him and for the team overall.” 

Clearly, despite the disturbing events that have transpired in the Tri-Schools this October, the community remains resilient and prepared.