School Bus Threats 'Not Credible'

While school districts took extra steps this week to guard against a warning about terror threats, the State Education Department said it is "not considering this a credible threat at this time."

A threatening email, received by state officials April 1, was released to Long Island school districts Tuesday. At least two school districts,  and , posted the warning on their websites Tuesday night.

Syosset schools then updated the message early Wednesday morning to make sure residents understood that the threats were not aimed directly at Syosset, rather all New York State Schools, highlighting the word "all" in bold font on the website. The District recently updated the website to include the NYS message.

The Syosset Central School District could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The email is said to make specific threats of violence to state office buildings, the state Legislature and school buses.

In a follow-up letter to school districts issued Wednesday, the state Education Department said law enforcement authorities are taking the threat seriously and are continuing to investigate.

In South Huntington, superintendent Dr. Thomas Shea said, ""As soon as we received the NYSED safety notification I directed our Supervisor of School Transportation Ms. Lucretia Tapler to meet with all of our drivers and share the memo with them so they could be alert for suspicious behavior while on their routes." 

Superintendent said the district has enacted heightened security procedures at all its buildings, alerted all district administrators, and has urged its bus companies to implement additional precautions.

"We've asked all our vendors for extra vigilance in the pre- and post-trip inspections of our buses and asked them to be particularly aware of adults approaching the buses," Dempsey said. "We have asked them to be particularly concerned about suspicious people, not only on delivery to and from schools but also on field trips."

While many parents were discussing plans to drive or pick up their children Wednesday, districts said bus operations through the day were normal.