Parents fearful after Elmwood Park preschool teacher threatens to ‘shoot up’ school – NorthJersey.com
ELMWOOD PARK – The arrest last week of a preschool teacher who allegedly threatened to “shoot up” The Goddard School had parents still shocked and fearful on Wednesday, even as the teacher was released from jail.
Employees at the preschool and day care center reported Friday that their colleague, Gina Schroeder, 39, of Nutley, said “One day, I’m gonna come here and shoot it up,” Police Chief Michael Foligno said. Schroeder also said she has three guns.
The school was immediately placed on lockdown and police searched the building and her car for the weapons, but didn’t find any. Nutley police responded to Schroeder’s home, where they found and seized her three guns, all legally owned, Foligno said.
Schroeder was arrested and charged with making terroristic threats and illegal possession of prescription drugs. She was promptly fired from the school. Records show she was released from Bergen County Jail on Wednesday.
On Wednesday evening, Elmwood Park Police maintained a presence at the school, with two officers checking in with staff.
One parent, who wished to remain anonymous, said she and her husband remain fearful for their child as well as the other children at the day care and the staff.
“We feel like, we don’t know if we should keep our child here,” she said. “Sooner or later she’ll get out and we don’t know what she’s going to do.”
Another parent who wished to remain anonymous said Schroeder was her child’s teacher in the infant classroom.
“It’s scary and shocking,” she said. “I would’ve never suspected. We heard she was released and that’s very concerning – we don’t know who the anger was directed at – the boss, fellow employees, the children?”
Olga Dubinsky, owner of The Goddard School of Elmwood Park, said Wednesday that “school is in progress as usual and there has been no disruption to our daily activities or our student body.”
“The safety of our students is our number one priority and we took immediate and deliberate steps to contact the police as soon as we learned that the former teacher had made some concerning comments,” Dubinksy said. “She was also terminated immediately. Our students and staff were safe at all time and we acted out of an overabundance of caution.”
Parents said Wednesday that they appreciated the transparency and quick action of the school.
“The Elmwood Park police are showing up in the morning and afternoon to make sure the kids are safe, the school team has done an amazing job communicating with parents – me and my wife still feel comfortable dropping our kids off here,” Ronald Julian said.
Sonia Malcolm agreed.
“I was shocked and felt a wide variety of emotions when I heard about it,” she said. “Whenever you hear about school shootings or any mass shootings, you always hear that the person was behaving weird or saying weird things. Goddard addressed this immediately and that makes me comfortable.”
The Goddard School opened in 2015 and serves as a preschool and day care for children in Elmwood Park, Garfield, Clifton, Saddle Brook and Fair Lawn.
Dubinsky said the staff is committed to following best practices for hiring, performing background checks and faculty development. It complies with all state requirements for hiring and background checks per the state Department of Children and Families, Dubinsky said.
The owner added that she could not comment on Schroeder due to privacy laws.
According to information on the school’s website, which has since been removed, Schroeder graduated from Essex Community College, where she obtained her associate’s degree in early childhood and elementary education.
She was in the field of early education since 1999 and was hired by the Goddard School in April 2016, where she worked as lead teacher in the infant classroom.
Email: nolan@northjersey.com
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