The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office has “extra personnel” at Windsor High School in Imperial this week, after a threat was found Feb. 5 that had been written in a boy’s restroom, says Lt. Gary Higginbotham of the Sheriff’s Office.
He said it was a “generalized threat” to harm people.
Higginbotham said the Sheriff’s Office takes all such threats seriously, so extra personnel will be on the school campus at least through this week.
“We have to treat them all as credible, and it costs a lot of man hours and operational funds,” he said.
Windsor Superintendent Joel Holland said today (Feb. 8) that classes have not been canceled, but school staff and the extra Sheriff’s Office personnel are on the lookout for any trouble.
Holland sent a letter about the threat to parents on Feb. 5, and it’s been posted on the district’s website.
In the letter, Holland said high school administration discovered Feb. 5 “that someone had made a graffiti written threat in one of the boy’s restrooms.”
He said school personnel “immediately” contacted the Sheriff’s Office.
“Various students were interviewed,” Holland said.
As of today, there were no “viable suspects,” he said.
“The safety and welfare of each child is paramount to our district and any and all threats, credible or not, will be taken as such,” Holland said in the letter.
He said any student found guilty of making such a threat would be subject to a 180-day-out-of-school suspension and possibly expulsion and criminal charges.
“These instances, credible or not, hold extremely punitive consequences,” Holland said.
He also asked parents to talk to their children about the issue.
“Please discuss the ramifications of making such threats with your child,” Holland said.
He also urges anyone with information about the threat to call either the high school at 636-464-4429, the school resource officer, Larry Michaels, at 636-464-4455 or the Sheriff’s Office at 636-797-5000.