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Last updated on Thursday, September 29, 2016
(BEDFORD) - North Lawrence Community Schools Superintendent Gary Conner sent a message to parents Thursday afternoon after a BNL assistant principal was alerted about a possible threat.
At 10 p.m. Wednesday night, that principal called the Lawrence County Police Department to report that a parent had overheard a student tell another student they were going to bring a gun to school and shoot another student.
That student allegedly posted on Facebook about the gun and the threat to shoot someone.
The person who heard about the threat was able to provide a name to school administrators who forwarded the information to police.
Bedford Police Detective Rob Herr investigated the incident and contacted the person who allegedly made the threat.
Police were unable to substantiate any validity to the comments and were unable to substantiate any validity to any form of posting on Facebook of a threat.
They also asked the parents if there were any firearms in the home, there were not.
The student indicated that he had not made any type of comments or threat to anyone.
Police and school officials found the form of a threat was nothing more than a rumor, thus Conner says they did not inform parents to a threat Wednesday night because there was none.
"Even though there was no validity to any of the comments, I instructed the administrator to have the parent bring the child to school after the school day started to conduct a further review of the situation," Conner added. " I instructed the administrator that I also wanted his locker searched. If he was in P.E., I wanted his P.E. locker searched. I also had the S.R.O,'s at BNL informed. Even though there was no credible evidence to anything being posted or to any comments being made, I took aggressive action to determine if there was any level of concern, to any degree. If there was a remote possibility that there was a possible concern, I would have taken very aggressive actions."
Conner alerted parents this afternoon through School Reach about the concern and findings:
"Parents, good afternoon. As a safeguard for all of our students and for all of families at BNL, we would like to share with you a matter relating to school safety. We also want to reassure everyone that we have taken aggressive steps and detailed precautions to ensure a safe environment at the high school. We want you to know the school is safe. Our kids are safe, and they are very important to us."
"Late last evening, school administration received an alleged report that a student may have posted a comment in regards to a possible threat. Because of the alleged comment, we immediately took aggressive precautions, including contacting law enforcement personnel, to address the concern. Throughout the evening and through the early morning hours today, we have partnered with law enforcement personnel at the Bedford Police Department and at the Lawrence County Police Department to ensure maximum safety for all students. There is absolutely no substantiation of the claim, to any degree. It has been determined the comments were only rumors and second-hand information. Thanks for caring. Our young people are very important to us. We are dedicated to making sure that our kids are okay every moment of every day. We just wanted you to be informed. Thank you. Take care."
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