The threats that forced a soft lockdown at the Seckman schools campus in Imperial on Wednesday, April 9, were determined to be a hoax, according to Fox C-6 School District officials and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
The campus, which is home to Seckman High, Middle and Elementary schools, was placed on the soft lockdown at about 1 p.m. Wednesday after two consecutive threatening phone calls were made to the high school’s main office, Superintendent Paul Fregeau said in a letter sent to families and staff on that day.
School administrators and Sheriff’s Office deputies investigated the calls and determined there was no immediate threat, the letter said.
“The Sheriff’s Office and district officials believe the threat was a ‘swatting’ incident.’ ‘Swatting’ is a dangerous and illegal act where someone makes a false report to cause a large-scale, disruptive, immediate response,” Fregeau said in the letter. “‘Swatting’ incidents usually involve reporting situations such as active shooters or bomb threats. While we believe this incident did not pose a credible threat to the safety of our students and staff, we treated this incident and any threat of violence seriously.”
Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Grant Bissell said multiple deputies secured the campus after they were notified about the threats at about 1 p.m.
“The Sheriff’s Office takes every school threat seriously and investigates them thoroughly because nothing could be more important than the safety of our children,” Jefferson County Undersheriff Tim Whitney said in the letter sent to Fox C-6 families and staff.
School district officials said a soft lockdown meant access to buildings were restricted, and movement between classrooms was limited.
Just before 2 p.m., the district notified families that the Sheriff’s Office had blocked off access to the campus, which delayed transportation after school. Just after 2:20 p.m., the district told families that the soft lockdown was still in effect, but the schools would start a controlled dismissal of students.
Bissell said students from the high school were released first followed by students at the middle and elementary schools. Fox C-6 spokesman Andy Waterman said all students had left the campus by about 3:55 p.m. Deputies had left the campus by 5:30 p.m. or so.
Bissell said additional deputies were at the campus today, April 10, as a precaution.
“On behalf of the Fox C-6 School District, we commend the actions taken by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office to keep our students, staff members and families safe,” Fregeau said. “We would also like to send our appreciation to staff and family members for your understanding and patience while the campus was locked down. We understand that traffic was abnormal, transportation delays were much longer than usual and there were many questions about the situation. All of that said, we were able to get students and families home safely.”