VOLUME 103 ISSUE VI MARCH 15, 2017
IN THE NEWS
SOUTH PASADENA HIGH SCHOOL 1401 FREMONT AVE, SOUTH PASADENA, CA 91030
Tiger
TIGERNEWSPAPER.COM
TEDxSOUTHPASADENA
EIGHTH GRADE NIGHT II
TASSEL YARD SALE
The Peer Mediators will feature local speakers at their upcoming ‘Expecting & Accepting’ TEDx salon on March 25.
Middle school students will visit campus again tonight, gaining a second glimpse into high school life.
The TASSEL club is hosting its annual yard sale this Saturday to fundraise for children in Cambodia.
A POLICE CAR is parked outside an ucharacteristically empty gym Friday morning, in response to a threat that was brought to light earlier in the day. South Pasadena police officers searched for the suspect on campus, while students and teachers remained in classrooms under “hard” lockdown.
Social media threat initiates school lockdown Classrooms were placed on lockdown for more than two hours last Friday morning, a precaution taken in response to a school shooting threat via Snapchat. The situation was similar to a lockdown that occurred two years ago, but this time, classes resumed after the lockdown ended. On the morning of March 10, administrators discovered the general threat made to the school. A senior allegedly posted the image on his Snapchat story: a drawer of guns and ammunition with the caption “3 replies and I’ll shoot up the school.” After the threat was reported to administration, the police were notified and began searching for the 17-year-old suspect. Authorities initally were unable to locate him, prompting them to place the school on a lockdown at 9:10 AM. After two hours of searching, the South Pasadena Police Department located the student in San Bernardino. The suspect turned himself in without a struggle, and the lockdown ended.
A FAMILIAR PRECAUTION Many teachers continued their lessons during the lockdown, taking advantage of the extra classroom time; others played movies. The Powderpuff assembly, which was planned that day to promote the evening’s football game and initiate the inaugural Tiger Games, had to be cancelled. Reactions ranged from shock and fear to indifference amongst students. Many juniors and seniors weren’t unfamiliar with the schoolwide threat procedure; SPHS has experienced three threats within recent memory, one of which made national headlines before the 2014 school year. “Each time there’s a [threat], our response gets a little tighter in its execution,” Principal Janet Anderson, who coordinated the lockdown, said. “It’s a sad reality; for some people it’s sport to send out those messages.” Anderson has dealt with past threats to the school, each one potentially compromising student safety. For school officials, last week’s threat was no different.
COSTLY RECOVERY
GRAND OPENING
Read Cole Cahill’s opposition to new summer school budget changes regarding recovery classes
Associate Feature Editor Maya Williamson reviews the brand new Fair Oaks restaurant: Poke Salad Bar
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STORY BRANDON YUNG PHOTOGRAPH MATT SCHOLTZ
“I don’t know his motivation. We considered it a threat when we received it,” Anderson said.
UNCLEAR INTENTIONS The seventeen-year-old senior had aspirations to join the military after he graduated, according to Amanda (whose name has been changed for anonymity), who knew him at school. She saw the threat when it was initially posted on Snapchat, and identified it as nothing more than an attention-seeking gag. On Friday morning, the senior returned to his Snapchat story after learning about involvement by authorities. According to Amanda, he made a post indicating that the image of guns used in the initial threat was a Google image, and that he felt remorseful for what he did: “My bad,” he captioned one of his Snapchat images. For an in-depth breakdown of the day’s events, visit tigernewspaper.com.
TRACK OVERCOMES BUDGET CUTS The Tigers have found success early in their season despite major managerial changes
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