'The kids didn't need that': Premier confident school email culprit will be found
Premier Gladys Berejiklian is confident police will identify the sender of threatening emails which caused 20 Sydney high schools to be evacuated while some students were completing their HSC exams.
The cybercrime squad are investigating after anonymous emails, which police understand are linked, were sent to the schools about 11am on Tuesday.
Students from Willoughby Public School return to school on Tuesday afternoon after being evacuated when the adjacent high school received threatening emails.Credit:Janie Barrett
Schools understood to have received the emails include Willoughby Girls High, Castle Hill High, Thomas Reddall High, Mount Annan High, Elizabeth Macarthur High, Picnic Point High, Baulkham Hills High, Bossley Park High, Ravenswood School for Girls, Crestwood High and Jamison High. Willoughby Public School, adjacent to the high school, was also evacuated.
As the member for Willoughby, Ms Berejiklian told Ben Fordham on 2GB on Wednesday morning she knew the disruption to the community the scam emails had caused.
"I know from my own local school how that affected the local community; it was a stressful time and that happened 20 times across NSW," she said.
After completing their final year of school amid a range of adverse circumstances – including weeks of remote learning and restricted celebrations due to social distancing requirements – the Premier said she sympathised with the year 12 students affected by the emails, some of whom were unable to complete their legal studies exam.
Willoughby Girls High was among the schools affected.Credit:Janie Barrett
"It's a very stressful time, in 2020, to be doing the HSC anyway and the kids didn't need that," she said.
The Premier said "it was a very scary thing, but I know police are onto it", adding it was necessary to evacuate the schools.
"The police have to do the right thing which is assume the threat is real," she said.
Speaking on Today, Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said she was "devastated" for the Year 12 students who had their exams disrupted.
"I'm devastated for them and I'm angry," she said.
"Yesterday, as soon as we knew all of the kids were safe, there was that sense of relief – but I'm really cranky at whoever is behind this.
"It has been tough enough for Year 12. It is a disgrace: not a funny prank."
Ms Mitchell reiterated that students will be able to apply for misadventure provisions if they believe their exams were impacted.
The subjects most likely to have been impacted were legal studies in the morning and visual arts in the afternoon, although Ms Mitchell said most exams had returned to normal after lunch.
"Some schools moved to alternative locations we had as a back-up plan in case there was a COVID impact on a school," she explained, stressing the varying impacts of the evacuations will be taken into account when exams are marked and "students won't be disadvantaged in any way".
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Mary Ward is a reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.