Two recent incidents have rattled the school community in Burlington, Massachusetts, prompting high school students to address the Burlington School Committee Tuesday.
The first incident was Friday morning, when two girls were threatened with a knife in art class.
"The person with a knife came over to the classroom and threatened my sister with it," said Joicee, who did not want her last name as it would identify her sister. "To stab her and her friend directly, it wasn't a general threat to the classroom."
The knife was confiscated and the student was removed from the school, but classmates say the district downplayed the incident.
"The administration only communicated to us, the students and the parents, that there'd only been a sighting of that knife, without communicating the severity of the situation," said senior Jack Carey.
Tuesday, a panic button malfunctioned, bringing police with guns to the school.
But following the knife incident on Friday, it added stress for students who didn't immediately know it was a false alarm.
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"Guns were pointed at me and several classmates," said Carey. "It was definitely a very, very high-intensity situation."
Students told the school committee in both Friday's incident and Tuesday's, it took too long for the school community to find out what exactly was taking place.
"We're all very sorry that all these incidents have happened and have scared people," said School Committee Chair Christine Monaco. "Fortunately, no one was hurt."
There will be a special safety meeting to address some of the concerns on Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. at Burlington High School.
School officials say they are not allowed to release much information about Friday's knife incident because it involves a minor.
