Dear Berlin Parents, Students, and Staff,

I want to bring to your attention an incident that occurred yesterday afternoon on one of the MS/HS bus runs. At approximately 2:30 PM a student found a bullet and responsibly handed it to the bus driver. Our Director of Transportation, Mr. Suh, met the bus at 2:50, and made sure the students were safe and then performed an initial search of the bus. He then followed the bus while the remaining students were dropped off. With no other students on the bus, a second search was performed. The State troopers were notified at 3:30 pm and started an investigation at 4:30 PM. They determined the bullet to be a 0.22 caliber round, similar to those used in small game hunting and target shooting.

While we understand our community has a culture of hunting and target shooting, we also have the responsibility to ensure that no ammunition is brought onto school property. While this discovery is upsetting to the Berlin school community, we must take extra precautions to ensure the safety of all students. Our Transportation Department staff will be undergoing training regarding unusual incidents (like this one) and to report the incidents to an immediate supervisor or administrator.

As a follow up to the incident, Dr. Allain and Mr. Suh spoke with the students riding this bus this morning. At this time we would like to ask parents to remind those students who may hunt or practice target shooting to be vigilant in checking their clothing or backpack daily.

The NYS Police may continue to investigate this incident and we will be in contact with them for further suggestions on how to prevent this from happening in the future.  Thank you.

Sincerely,

Dr. Stephen Young
Superintendent of Schools Berlin Central School District

Letter 2.28.19