On Thursday, Sept. 28, students and staff were notified of a message in a stall in a girls’ bathroom threatening that a school shooting would occur the next day at Redwood.

At approximately 1 p.m., students brought the graffiti to the attention of the administration, according to Assistant Principal Saum Zargar. Following the report, the Central Marin Police Authority was contacted to further investigate the threat’s legitimacy, Principal Sondheim wrote in an email to the Redwood community.

Administration met around 2 p.m. to discuss the situation, and after investigation and consideration, decided that school will be in session tomorrow for a normal schedule with added security present. Police officers and extra personnel will circulate on campus, according to Sondheim’s email.

Following the notice by Sondheim, students and parents still feel that safety is at risk and many students are not attending school. Many students were notified of the situation through social media posts prior to Sondheim’s message.

“Regardless if the threat is valid or not, if I were to go to school and if anybody were to get hurt, then this would be such a big regret because we literally had a warning about it. To still send kids to school and risk something happening, regardless of of the validity of the threat, it’s just not worth it,” junior Sam Jackson said, who will not be attending school tomorrow.

Jackson also stated that if someone did bring a gun to school to cause harm, then administration patrolling the halls and police on campus still do not guarantee everyone’s safety.

On the other hand, freshman Leah Huizenga said that she feels safe going to school because she believes the threat is only a ruse and there will be additional protection in case it proves otherwise.

“I believe that kids are just fooling around and since the bomb threat they think they can get away with this stuff,” Huizenga said.

According to Sondheim’s email, if anything changes regarding the decision not cancel school due to law enforcements’ advisement, immediate notification will be received through text, email, website, Twitter and Facebook.  

Update Sept. 29:

In an updated emailed just before noon on Friday, Principal David Sondheim informed the community that several leads were pursued in connection with the shooting threat, but that school was in normal session with added security on campus.

Sondheim described the mood on campus as “positive and calm” with the additional police and school staff present.

“Our staff is doing an excellent job maintaining composure and carrying on with the teaching and learning they do so well, despite the disruption,” Sondheim wrote.

Many teachers chose to push test dates until next week to accommodate for the large number of students who did not attend school.

“Many parents/guardians have chosen to keep their students home today, while many others have chosen to carry on as normal a routine as possible. As both a parent and a school administrator, I wholeheartedly understand both positions,” Sondheim wrote.