A Message from Brother Tony - Oct. 24, 2021

10.24.21

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Yesterday, I was alerted to a Snapchat post with a threat about “… shooting up Central” and immediately reported it to the police.  I am pleased to report that through the hard work of the City of Pittsburgh Zone 4 Police, in conjunction with their cyber intelligence unit and the FBI an arrest was made in Missouri.  The poster had no connection to our Central Catholic High School or Pittsburgh.  The police have determined that this is not a credible threat to our school community and we can safely be in school on Monday.

I understand the anxiety that a post like this can provoke.  Central Catholic has made a long term commitment to provide mental health and spiritual support for our students, including a licensed school psychologist and family support services. These services are available for any student in need.  In order to provide another layer of safety and reassurance to our students, parents, faculty, and staff, Central Catholic will have increased police presence in and around the school campus on Monday, Oct. 25, 2021. Police will be present from student arrival until the end of sports practices.

We will continue to conduct school in the manner that we are accustomed to and most conducive to student learning.  Students will be outside at times during the day, have PE classes, and sports practices after school. 

If you wish to keep your student home from school on Monday, please call the attendance hotline (412-621-1766) and leave a message with Mrs. Horey using the call-off procedure, and the absence will be excused.  In order for the teachers to focus on the students in class, there will not be a Zoom option for those students being called-off on Monday.

The security and safety of our Central Catholic community is our top priority. As a reminder, Central Catholic has implemented several safety measures over the past several years to foster a safe environment:

• “If you see something, say something” policy - Students, faculty and staff are advised to use the Safe 2 Say platform to anonymously report suspicious activity.
• Central Catholic was the first high school in the area to install the Blue Point System, an active shooter alarm, which immediately signals an alert to police saving precious time in the event of an active shooter situation.
• Faculty and staff undergo security and safety training at the beginning of each school year to ensure that they are proactively monitoring student behavior and warning signs.  Teachers will review safety procedures tomorrow during homeroom with students.
• Our central location in the heart of Oakland puts us at the center of three police departments – including Pittsburgh Police, Carnegie Mellon Police and University of Pittsburgh police. We maintain strong relationships with each of these departments.

The safety and well being of our students, faculty and staff is of the utmost importance and we will continue to take any reports seriously. Thank you for your vigilance in helping to keep our community safe.