By JON BAKER

SEEKONK — As a running back/linebacker for Seekonk High’s resurgent football squad, junior Bobby Jeannotte -- not surprisingly -- fears little.

When he first heard that one of his schoolmates had developed a “hit list,” apparently to cause harm to fellow classmates and/or teachers, he expressed more surprise than anything else.
“(The news) doesn’t make me nervous, though I was shocked something like that would happen here, at a school like this, where everyone knows each other so well,” Jeannotte said after classes on Wednesday afternoon. “In class and in the hallways, there were people who gossiped about it, but I don’t think anyone was really scared.
“I didn’t see any real reaction to it.” he added.
According to one TV news report, the list had been compiled by a 15-year-old female, and that the suspect immediately was taken out of school and the parents notified. Neither could be substantiated.
Det. Thomas Piquette did confirm that the list had been discovered sometime Tuesday, and the case still was being investigated.
“I’d say, within the next day or two, we will have closed the investigation,” he said Wednesday morning.
Principal Marcia F. McGovern stated that the school “absolutely” did not see any increase in absences Wednesday. She also noted that parents of those on that list were contacted immediately.
“We sent out an e-mail late (Tuesday) afternoon to the parents on our e-mail list, and students (without home computers or access to e-mail) will receive a copy of that letter to take home and deliver to their parents (Wednesday),” she said minutes before Wednesday’s dismissal.
In that letter, McGovern wrote to parents and/or guardians, “I am writing to advise you that, on March 11, 2008, the Seekonk Public Schools investigated a situation where a student at Seekonk High School (had) developed a “hit list.” All families of students whose names appeared on that list have been notified.
“Additionally,” she added, “the district has taken appropriate steps to ensure the safety of all students. Due to confidentiality requirements, no additional information can be provided at this time … Please be assured that the high school and the district will notify you if there is any other information of which you should be aware.”
McGovern did admit she had been inundated by phone calls from the media.
“It’s been just another school day,” she said in an interview. “The press can do what it wants with this, but it’s not a real big story. We and the police have taken the necessary precautions. God forbid, if it did happen, it would be a big story, but everyone did what they were supposed to. All authorities were contacted (right away).”
Ray Grant, the school’s athletic director and -- like Piquette -- an alumnus, said he knew nothing about the incident except for the e-mail he and fellow instructors had on Tuesday.
“I’ve talked with several kids during the course of school (Wednesday), not nobody brought it up,” he said.
If nerves were a little rattled, no one exhibited such Wednesday afternoon. As always immediately after classes, SHS student-athletes preparing for the upcoming spring sports season were going through their typical regimen -- stretching and lifting weights near the Mayers Natatorium. Likewise, schoolmates laughed and socialized in the main foyer next to the main office.