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American Morning

Many Parents and School Officials in Texas Feeling a Bit More Anxious This Morning

Aired December 13, 2001 - 08:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Many parents and school officials in Texas are feeling a bit more anxious this morning. The governor says the FBI has warned of a vague threat against schools in the state. So, are Texas parents afraid to send their children to school?

Our Ed Lavandera joins us live from Dallas.

Good morning, Ed.

I think it's probably every parents worst nightmare, isn't it?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's obviously on the minds of a lot of parents here this morning as they're starting to drop their kids off at school. We're at Dan D. Roger Elementary School, on the eastern side of Dallas, and parents here in Texas started getting the word late yesterday that after the governor's press conference talking about what you mentioned, described as a low- level threat. We understand that a foreign government, which hasn't been identified, had a man in custody who alluded to this possibly threat, but as everyone has mentioned here, they that stress this is a low-level threat, and that there is no indication that there is anything on the horizon here, and that is what they've been stressing for the last couple of days.

But nonetheless, as parents show up here today, this is definitely something they've been talking to and talking to school district officials about.

And we've got one parent here this morning Sophia Bianti, who has a second-grader and a third-grader here at this elementary school.

Sophia, what has been on your mind in the last 12, 15 hours?

SOPHIA BIANTI, PARENT: Concerned. The most important thing is to be alert. I listen to the governor, and he said to be on the low- level alert, not high alert, so my primary concern is, you know, just to come up to the school on occasions and to just check, but not to take my kids out of school. If there is a high alert, I take my kids out, but since there's a low alert, you know.

LAVANDERA: Are you appreciative of the fact that the governor came out and made those comments yesterday? BIANTI: I'm very appreciative of the fact that he came out and made the comment, you know, to be on low alert, because you know, as a concerned parent, these are little ones, and school is very important, but their lives are very, very important, and that lets me know that he cares about our children to let us know what's going in our community and the state.

LAVANDERA: So even though it's a low-level threat, you definitely want the FBI and state officials to let you guys know about anything like this?

BIANTI: Yes. And, as you see, I'm calm, and I'm appreciative for the governor coming out, and you know, informing us, whether it's a low-level alert or a high alert you know, it's his responsibility to come out and inform us. We're taxpayers, and we have little ones that need to be protected.

LAVANDERA: What do you tell the little ones?

BIANTI: Actually, I show them. I show them our responsibility to remain calm, and they see mommy as role model and afterwards, you know, when they see mommy calm, then they're calm, and then I let them know, there's a great concern about the terrorist attack. And they are aware of that, but you know, a at the same time, mommy is calm, and so the little ones are going to be calm as well.

LAVANDERA: Thank you so much, Sophia. Have a good morning.

And as you've just seen, a lot of parents bringing their kids here to school this morning, and while they continue to bring their kids, it's definitely on their minds this morning; 7,500 schools in the state of Texas, hundreds of thousands of students. As you might imagine, this makes for a complicated situation for the officials in the state of Texas.

Paula, back to you.

ZAHN: Very complicated. Ed Lavandera, thanks for the update.

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