On Friday, Jan. 31, after the Celebration of Accomplishments, students were told to walk back to their lockers to get their stuff. When arriving at their lockers they were told to turn around without their stuff and go back to the auditorium. When getting to the auditorium, they were again told to return to their lockers and get their stuff. Students were allowed to get their stuff but were directed back to the auditorium afterward. Students were held in the auditorium, delaying dismissal. In about ten minutes students were dismissed like usual.

There were lots of rumors about knives and guns, but what exactly happened to cause the need for a delayed dismissal and all the hallway confusion?

“There was an off-campus incident with a male subject that needed some help, he was having some issues near the high school,” Officer Rick Jones, School Resource Officer, said. 

The incident was not on school grounds but off-campus on Thorn St. It occurred around 2:35 p.m. which is why dismissal was delayed. 

“[We were] not officially on lockdown but we just wanted to delay dismissal time until we knew where the subject was. We had information within a few minutes from our other officers responding to the residence, and once we knew it was contained inside the residence we knew that we could do our dismissal,” Officer Jones said. Both the high school and the middle school had a delayed dismissal. “Keeping everyone inside the auditorium would be the safest place, we just didn’t want anybody going outside until we had additional information and was safe for everyone to get on their buses.”

“At no point was anyone in danger.” Officer Jones said.