A Kemptville high school reopened its doors on Wednesday morning to students after a police investigation into a threat to public safety had closed the school for several days.
An email sent to parents and guardians of students at St. Michael Catholic High School from the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario said the board, police and Ontario’s Ministry of Education had worked “to understand the nature of the threats” directed at the school.
“As a result of this extensive and ongoing collaboration, we are pleased to let you know that St. Michael Catholic High School will be open for students tomorrow,” the Tuesday night email said.
The school board said support services would be in place for returning students, including mental health counsellors and support teams, additional staff, police presence, locking external doors, a delayed start time and a family virtual information session with a subject-matter expert in trauma response.
The high school was closed for four school days while police investigated the threat.
On Wednesday, OPP media spokesperson Edward Sanchuk said the investigation remained ongoing.
“The OPP takes all public safety threats seriously and realize the concerns and stress this causes for students, parents, teachers, and community members,” Sanchuk said via email. “Investigators are continuing to investigate these threats and are making efforts to identify the caller.”
Police previously said they couldn’t speculate on any connection between two recent incidents and one that occurred in mid-September, “but that is part of the ongoing investigation.”
In an incident on Sept. 13, St. Michael Catholic High School was temporarily locked down after an anonymous threat was left on voicemail overnight. The lockdown was lifted shortly after noon that day, when police determined there was “no actual threat.”
More recently, all schools in Kemptville and Iroquois were closed last Thursday after alleged threats against St. Michael and Seaway District High School in Iroquois, including those of the Catholic board, the Upper Canada District School Board and two French-language boards.
On Friday, the Catholic and Upper Canada boards said all other schools in Kemptville were open, but St. Michael remained closed as OPP investigated an additional threat. The Catholic board said then it was taking precautionary measures by closing the school after being advised by the Ontario Provincial Police “that they spoke directly to an anonymous person who indicated that, at the beginning of the school day on Friday, Oct. 4, there would be an act of violence involving weapons that would take place at St. Michael CHS.”
“The nature of these threats, their anonymity, and their unpredictability, require that we fall on our emergency procedures and communication protocols to ensure the safety of our students and staff,” the board said.
With files from Postmedia