A Middletown man in his mid-20s was spotted on the grounds of New Monmouth School and then Saint Mary School about two weeks before authorities issued a public statement on the matter this week. Police say the man went on to post videos and images of himself on school property, followed by more posts showing screenshots of guns — and that discovery has left some parents demanding a stronger response from local law enforcement.
According to News12, parents were alerted about the incident, and police released a statement Monday saying that after speaking with the man, they determined his posts were not threats. Middletown police maintained there are no credible threats at the school district, even as they confirmed the man had been physically removed from both school properties.
Police Chief Craig Weber said the man has been notified he is not allowed back on either property and that the department acted to safeguard the community. “The individual has been notified he's not allowed to enter on those properties,” Weber said, according to the station's report. Weber added that he understood parents' fears and said police worked with school systems to act immediately to protect the community.
Parent Says the Response Wasn't Enough
Not every parent is satisfied. Megan Kean told News12 she was upset by the way the man was spotted and the posts that followed, saying he was in the playground, police were called, and officers told residents it wasn't considered a credible threat. She said she was unhappy with the police department's online statement describing the incident.
“I'm a nervous wreck. I don't want to even send them,” Kean said, referring to her own children, and pointed to what she described as a staffing imbalance at the schools: “Five hundred and eleven students to one armed officer.” She said, overall, that the police response fell short.
Per the same account, Middletown police said they remain in constant communication with the involved school districts and will monitor the individual's social media accounts going forward. Police also said they have been in touch with the man and his family, both of whom have been cooperating with the investigation.
A Pattern of School-Adjacent Incidents
This isn't the first time this fall that a Middletown resident's online activity has triggered a school security scare. On Oct. 15, Mayor Tony Perry said a resident had made concerning social media posts referencing New Monmouth Elementary School, according to Patch. Those comments were discovered around 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 14, and police said they quickly identified and located the individual responsible. Perry said at the time there was no ongoing threat to the elementary school or the public.
Patch's coverage of that October episode also noted that all Middletown public schools have an armed Class III police officer present throughout the school day — a security structure the district put in place several years ago. The Middletown Board of Education unanimously approved stationing a Class III special officer in each of its 16 schools back in June 2022, according to NJ.com, when the district served more than 9,200 students. Under that original agreement, officers were paid $50 an hour through the end of the 2021-22 school year and no more than $35 an hour the following year.
At the time the armed-officer plan was adopted, Middletown Deputy Chief Paul Bailey said the schools already had strong security in place. “The schools already have excellent security measures,” Bailey said by phone, according to NJ.com. “It's always been a high priority and now we'll have a permanent presence in place.”
For now, Middletown police say the matter involving the man seen at New Monmouth School and Saint Mary School is being handled through ongoing monitoring and cooperation with his family rather than any public enforcement action. Whether that approach reassures parents like Kean remains an open question in a community that has now weathered two separate social-media-related school scares within a matter of weeks.
