The Eckart College in Eindhoven is closed on Monday after a threatening report was received by the police on Sunday. The police do not want to say what the content of this report via Meld Misdaad Anoniem is, but found it ‘so serious’ that the school was informed.
The school management then took the decision to close the secondary school with 1500 students on Monday. In an email to parents and students, the school management writes that it has been informed by the police about ‘a possible escalation during the last day of classes of our exam candidates. This is an exam stunt with a risk to safety. The school’s management called the exam stunt a “bad joke” on Monday morning.
Both the police and the school do not want to say what the threat is. The police can only say that the anonymous report has a slightly different content than the bomb threat that students spoke about in an app group.
On Monday morning, students reported that the school will be closed this Monday because students were planning to pull off an exam stunt with a bomb. In a group app of graduating students, jokes are made about a C4 bomb, which is used by soldiers.
C4 bomb
According to an anonymous student, the group app of final exam students at Eckart College first talked about party poppers and things like that. Then someone put in a picture of a C4 bomb with a timer at 5 minutes, with the text below: ‘Test variant is already ready’.
“Test round tonight,” someone else writes. “Monday showtime,” says yet another.
In the email, the school management writes: “After all, safety comes first. The police are visibly present on Monday morning. Classes will be cancelled, including those for non-exam classes. The school will be open again from Tuesday and we can start the Brainport week.”
The school and the police are jointly investigating the anonymous report and the statements in the students’ app group. No one has been arrested yet.
Usually playful
The Eckart College, together with 33 other secondary schools in Brabant, falls under the responsibility of the school board Ons Middelbaar Onderwijs, or OMO for short. At OMO, they have never before experienced a school being closed due to threats surrounding an exam stunt. And exam stunts have never gotten out of hand at OMO schools. According to a spokesman, exam stunts are usually playful actions.
At OMO they understand the decision of the rector of the Eckart College to close the school. “Student safety comes first,” says the OMO spokesperson. “If the safety of the students is in doubt, a rector must take measures.”
The group app of graduating students jokes about a bomb: