Hampshire County D.A. justifies writing sample ruse

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) - A 22News follow-up to a story stirring constitutional concerns about the rights of high school students in Northampton.

In an open letter to the Northampton Police Chief and the superintendent of schools, Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan justified his decision to collect writing samples from students after a threatening note was found in Northampton High School last month.  The note was found in a bathroom December 21st, one week after the mass murder at an elementary school in Connecticut.  Everyone was ordered out of the school.

The D-A said the solicitation of written pledges was a legally justifiable effort to protect the school population by identifying the note's author.  The intent was to match hand-writing samples with the threatening note.

The ploy drew complaints from the American Civil Liberties Union, which claimed the written statements were not voluntary, and parents were not notified.

D.A. Sullivan quoted a State Supreme Judicial Court decision that said, in part, "when urgent considerations of the public safety require ... the normal principles may have to bend."