No immediate threat to students at Chinook High School, says Lethbridge School District

LETHBRIDGE – UPDATE: 3:45 p.m. in response to many questions from parents and those concerned about alleged online threats made to Chinook High School and communication from administrators to parents whose children attend there, LNN reached out to the Lethbridge School District. Here is their response in full.

We respond as a District when police have communicated with us according. In respect to safety of students in our schools, we follow the Violence, Threat, Assessment protocol. Police share information with us when and if it impacts the safety of our students. We were not made aware of this threat until approximately 6:30 a.m. this morning. Chinook High School posted a message on the school website at 7:30 a.m., and on the school’s phone message system at the same time, with all the information the school had at the time. Police receive reports on an ongoing basis, and we as a District trust the judgement of the police as to the timing involved when information on those investigations is shared with our schools. The process of investigating a report may take several hours, and the goal is to always provide the most accurate and clear information possible.

The Lethbridge School District says administrators followed their safety protocol and determined there was no imminent threat to students at Chinook High School Tuesday morning.
 
Students and parents alike lit up social media around 7:00 a.m. with pictures and messages of someone posting a pencil case with what appeared to be bullets inside, a weapon on top of a pack of cigarettes, and a picture of a person dressed in black standing in front of a bright flash in a mirror.
 
While the school remained open, some parents elected not to send their kids there, at least for the morning.
 
Superintendent Cheryl Gilmore says after they were informed of the alleged threats against the high school, their first call was to police-who confirmed that they would be there to investigate. They then went about determining their next course of action.
 
“It’s a process and all of our administrators are trained in threat assessment as well as police services. It’s a process of asssessing risk. It’s a protocol that’s used across North America… there’s a number of factors with respect to risk.”
 
Gilmore says school administration did a great job, followed protocol and determined that no lock down was necessary.
 
“A lockdown is when there’s an immediate threat within the school or external to the school that’s imminent.”

However, some parents are now questioning administrators, wondering why they were not informed this morning that a potential threat existed. Many say they only learned about what was going on through a text or pictures from their worried children. They believe they should have had more information as the situation was unfolding.
 
While nothing is ever perfect, Gilmore explains that from the time the alleged threat was reported, they did their best to keep on top of the situation. Services are available on school grounds to students if they’re feeling upset.
 
“Our Coordinator of Councelling Services is at the school and she ensures that there’s access to services for all students if they feel anxious or rattled by what they’ve seen on social media, or what’s been speculated.”
 
Lethbridge Police escorted a boy out of the school, and placed him in an unmarked police vehicle around 9:30 a.m. There’s no word yet on any possible charges.