Fort Frances OPP continue to investigate allegations regarding a series of threats made by students at Fort High, but say there is no immediate danger at the school.
“We don’t have any information at this time that would indicate an immediate danger to anyone,” Insp. Dave Lucas said yesterday.
“We do take any threats related to any schools very seriously,” he added.
Fort High principal Gord McCabe echoed those sentiments in a letter to parents and guardians sent out on Friday.
“I can assure you that we believe there is no genuine threat to student safety and we will be conducting business as usual, today and in the future,” he wrote.
“If we ever felt our student body was unsafe, we would take immediate action.”
Rumours began circulating last week regarding a small group of students allegedly making threats of violence towards other students.
On Thursday morning, about 70 students held a brief demonstration outside the school’s main office to voice their concerns about these rumours.
“These rumours centre around a ‘Prep Beat-down Day’ on Dec. 22, whereby a small group of students are supposedly planning to bring guns to school to attack other students,” McCabe wrote in his letter to parents.
As first reported in last Thursday’s Daily Bulletin, McCabe, Insp. Lucas, and S/Sgt. Steve Loshaw met with a delegation of students following the demonstration to discuss their concerns and explain what was being done about it.
“Our meeting was quite productive,” McCabe said Thursday. “The students raised a number of concerns that we are doing our very best to act on.”
“We talked at length and are satisfied the school and the police are doing everything they can, and that the school is acting on this issue,” students wrote in a statement following the meeting.
“We are asking that students report everything they see that might contain or constitute threats or bullying to the office or to a teacher they trust,” the statement added.
School administration has provided a question box at the request of students, where they can leave questions or concerns they have for administration to look into.
In his letter to parents and guardians, McCabe stressed the rumour of a gun being seized at the school is “totally false.”
“As well, there is no evidence of a ‘hit list’ which targets specific students,” he noted. “We have found during our investigation that many of the allegations made have been based on hearsay.”
Insp. Lucas said three investigators have been assigned to look into the allegations of threats, and Cst. Dereck McLean, a Community Services officer with the Fort Frances OPP, also is present at the high school.
The investigators are conducting interviews while Cst. McLean is a permanent liaison to the school.
“His role in this particular incident is to talk to students,” Insp. Lucas explained.
“We want to make sure that there’s a sense of calm in the school, that we do what we can to ensure the students are safe, and give them an avenue to talk to the police so they get the information they need,” he added.
No charges have been laid as of press time and Insp. Lucas could not comment further while the investigation is ongoing.
“We want to make sure we do our investigation thoroughly and properly,” he stressed. “I don’t want to say anything that may compromise our investigation.”
Police presence will continue at the school until that investigation is complete.
“Depending on the results of our investigation, that will dictate what our presence will be there in the future,” Insp. Lucas said.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
