By Eleanor Love, News and Sports Editor; Izzie Kim, Editor-in-Chief
Law enforcement and school officials have identified the McClatchy student who made school shooting threats in an Instagram post last Friday, December 10.
“That student’s going to be held accountable. I can’t share with you what the discipline outcome will be, but it’s a serious thing. It caused severe disruption to the school day and a lot of fear among students and parents completely unnecessarily, so it’s a pretty serious offense,” said Principal Andrea Egan.
On Friday, Assistant Principal Pedro Garibay was first notified of the shooting threat when a student reported it to him. He quickly informed Egan, who called district safety officials and law enforcement.
McClatchy was placed under a “soft lockdown” during second period, and students were not to leave for third period. Egan contacted students’ families and made an announcement over the loudspeaker to explain the situation. But police quickly determined that the threat was not legitimate, and the lockdown was lifted by fourth period.
Egan explained that with the help of law enforcement, she and other officials were able to trace the post to a couple of people, call them in to interview them, and get to the bottom of the situation.
“The police ensured us that there’s nothing behind it. The case is closed as far as I’m aware,” she said.
When asked if she had a message to share with students and families in regards to school safety, Egan explained that “As a school leader, I think about those kinds of things every day. It’s ultimately my job to make sure that the school has systems in place to keep you safe. When something like this happens, you can’t just pull out the guide book, you have to be ready to go. My message to families would be that I and the team are as ready as we can be for a potential dangerous situation on campus.”
Egan also shared that she and all staff are trained to handle school shootings, and that they have an active shooter training approaching in January.
The school shooting threat came after an already eventful week. Earlier, McClatchy students and officials faced great distress over the anonymous “@ckm_confessions_” account and sexual assault allegations. The shooting threat is not believed to be related.
The Prospector also reported on Principal Egan’s response to the confessions page and sexual assault allegations. Read it here.