For the second time in a week, area law enforcement has been sent scrambling to North Surry High School over the possibility of a weapon on campus.
Today, the school went into full lockdown mode, with students, teachers, and other staffers sequestered in their classrooms, offices, and other secure locations while law enforcement officials search and secure the school.
According to a release from Hollie Lyons, communications coordinator for the school system, the police presence was in response to the threat of a weapon or weapons on the school grounds.
“North Surry High School administrators received an anonymous tip that there was a potential weapon on campus,” she said in a release sent out shortly before 1 p.m. She said administrators there immediately turned the information into the Surry County Sheriff’s Office, and the school went into lockdown mode “as a precautionary measure.”
“I want to assure you that our top priority is the safety and well-being of all our students and staff, and we are taking all necessary precautions to ensure everyone’s safety.”
There was no word on whether the tip was made by telephone, electronic correspondence, or by some other means.
This is the second time the school has dealt with a weapon threat over the past week. On Monday, April 17, the school imposed a shelter-in-place order for its students and faculty, after receiving what officials later called a “false threat” of a weapon on school grounds.
A shelter-in-place order means teachers gather all students and keep them in their respective classrooms, with extra vigilance in watching for unusual behavior, but it is not as severe as a lockdown, when doors are locked and sometimes barricaded.
“School administration at North Surry High School was made aware of a potential weapon on school grounds,” the Surry County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement released last week, in regards to the April 17 threat. “School administration then made the school resource officer aware of the potential threat. Within minutes of the notification, numerous Surry County Sheriff’s Office personnel arrived on school campus. During the investigation, deputies and school administration found the threat to be a false threat made by a student.”
Last week, Sheriff Steve C. Hiatt’s office said the person making the alleged April 17 threat was 15 years old, thus no information regarding the accused would be released, other than his office would be seeking juvenile petitions against the person.
That threat, according to Lyons, came via a social media posting.
No one with the school system nor the sheriff’s office has yet said if the two threats might be related, although Hiatt said last week his office believed the April 17 threat was an isolated incident.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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