Dear Families and Community Members:
We want to inform our families and community about a recent trend called “swatting” hoaxes which have affected schools in our region and across the country. Swatting is the act of deceiving an emergency service into sending law enforcement or emergency response teams to a location through false reporting of a serious emergency, such as an active shooter or bomb threat.
We want to assure our families that our first priority is the safety of our students and staff. In the event of any reported threat at our schools, emergency services will respond and our schools will follow the established safety procedures while determining the credibility of the threat. Our goal is to communicate with you as quickly as possible with as much accurate information as we can. In situations like today, administrators were locked down by the directive of law enforcement and were unable to assess facts until the lockdown was lifted.
We ask that you talk with your children about how hoaxes like these can cause trauma to their peers and potentially prevent our community’s emergency personnel from responding to real emergencies. We continue to encourage our students and school community to report anything that could constitute a threat to school safety. We would also like to encourage you to please take this opportunity to ensure your contact information is up to date in Skyward Family Access.
Thank you,
Thaynan Knowlton
Superintendent