Second knife found at school

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NAUGATUCK — Naugatuck school and police officials are taking additional precautions after a knife was found at Hop Brook Elementary School for a second time in a week Monday.

Principal Kathryn Taylor sent an email to parents and guardians informing them that a small kitchen knife had been located in the school’s upstairs hallway Monday. Nobody was injured.

“Please be assured that we take this matter very seriously,” the letter states. “The Naugatuck School District, including central office and the security department, along with the Naugatuck Police Department, are actively investigating with the hope that we can learn how this knife got into our school and to examine ways we can prevent something like this from happening in the future.”

Last week, an 8-year-old girl found a knife in her locker at Hop Brook. The knife fell near her foot when she went to retrieve her backpack. She was not injured, and school officials have not determined how it got into her locker. Lockers in kindergarten through sixth grade are not locked in borough public schools.

Taylor also sent notification to parents following last week’s incident. She said school officials were investigating. The father of the girl who found the knife filed a report with Naugatuck police that night.

Naugatuck police spokesman Lt. Bryan Cammarata said last week officers met with school officials. He described the knife found last week as a legal folding knife with a blade about the length of four fingers across. He said the first incident was being handled internally by the school system.

Cammarata could not be reached for comment as of this post on the knife found at the school this week.

The letter Taylor sent Monday states that a sweep of the building and all lockers will be conducted, as will periodic sweeps of the building and grounds to ensure safety.

“The security staff will be assigned to the school on an additional as need [sic] basis,” the letter states.

Elio Gugliotti contributed to this article.