THUNDER BAY – The director of education at Lakehead Public Schools says anonymous threats being made against Hammarskjold High School are getting beyond frustration.
Ian MacRae said they’re starting to have a real impact on the emotional well-being of students, staff and families, not to mention the havoc the threats are wreaking on the students’ school year.
Eleven marked and unmarked police vehicles swarmed the Clarkson Street school on Thursday afternoon, after yet another threat was received by police, leading the school to be placed under a hold-and-secure.
Students arriving at Hammarskjold over the lunch hour were being turned away, and neither staff nor students were being allowed to leave the school.
Thursday’s threat marked the seventh time since the fall that the school was either put on lock-down or it was closed for the day. It's the second time this week, as another threat closed the school on Tuesday. It was later lifted, but police planned to remain on scene.
Emotions are starting to wear thin in the school community, MacRae said.
“I think it’s gone beyond frustration. I’m not sure what the adjective would be to describe it, but certainly it is very taxing on everyone. Students and staff are pretty frustrated with the situation. We were from the get-go, and it’s certainly not gotten any better,” MacRae said, before venturing inside Hammarskjold for an update from police.
He added the threats have led to fear amongst students and staff.
“People are only resilient to a point and everyone has a different threshold. But certainly everyone is getting to the point where you’re starting to see some overt displays of emotions around this issue and I’m sure today will be no different,” MacRae said.
“But people have pulled together and we’ve been pleased that when we do run school on a regular basis during the day it’s a pretty normal situation where kids are happy to be here and staff is working diligently to help them catch up on the work they’ve missed.”
MacRae said they’re working on additional measures to ensure students don’t fall too far behind, the school year rapidly coming to a close.
The latest threat came about an hour before Hammarskjold students were set to march out of class to join a province-wide protest of cuts in education being put in place and proposed by the Premier Doug Ford’s Conservative government.
Precautionary hold-and-secures were also issued for several nearby schools. Algonquin, C.D. Howe and Gron Morgan public schools, as well the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board’s St. Pius X, Gateway, Bishop E.Q. Jennings, Corpus Christi and St. Bernard.
The board has offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension of the person or persons making the threats. Crime Stoppers has also offered up a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Thunder Bay Police have set up a tip line at 684-5001.
