February 07, 2019
Google/StreetView
The facade of the Julia R. Masterman school on Spring Garden Street in Philadelphia.
Ten schools in the Philadelphia School District were named in a threat posted to Instagram on Wednesday evening. The anonymous poster threatened to shoot at the schools on Thursday, Feb. 7.
School district spokesperson H. Lee Whack said on Thursday morning that the post referenced the person going to shoot at the schools and used profane language. It was first tracked down by the Philadelphia Police Department, but the message now appears to have been deleted.
After investigating, police sent additional officers to each of the schools named in the threat for increased security, Whack said.
"It became clear that this was an issue around 8:30 this morning," Whack said. "We're communicating with the schools involved, and we are communicating with the families of those students through robocall and through letters."
Six of the 10 school named in the threat are located in South Philly. Also six of the schools on the list are high schools or have both high schools and middle school in their buildings.
The full list of schools threatened in the post are as follows:
• Academy at Palumbo; 1100 Catharine St., South Philly
• Franklin Learning Center; 616 N. 15th St., Spring Garden
• School of The Future; 4021 Parkside Ave., West Philly
• Central High School; 1700 W. Olney Ave., Logan
• Andrew Jackson School; 1213 S. 12th St., South Philly
• Kirkbride School; 1501 S. Seventh St., Southwark
• Mastery Charter School - Thomas Campus; South Philly
• Vare-Washington Elementary; 1198 S. Fifth St., Southwark
• D. Newlin Fell School; 900 W. Oregon Ave., South Philly
• Masterman School; 1699 Spring Garden St.; Spring Garden
None of these schools had been placed on lockdown as a result of the Instagram post.
In an email to students' families at Masterman School, Assistant Principal Tonya Broussard said additional police were at the school.
"We want to be clear, safety of our students and staff is always our number one priority," Broussard wrote.
"We take threats like this seriously and we work with law enforcement, according to our District policy and protocol, to fully investigate them and do everything possible to keep our school safe."
Police and the school district are continuing to fully investigate the matter. The Philadelphia Police Department did not immediately respond to PhillyVoice's request for comment.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Follow Marielle & PhillyVoice on Twitter: @mariellemondon | @thePhillyVoice
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice | Add Marielle's RSS feed to your feed reader
Have a news tip? Let us know.
