Lockport Township High School’s two campuses were placed on lockdown for two hours Friday afternoon after District 205 officials received a “threatening phone call,” according to the district. Both campuses have since reopened as the threat was found not to be credible.
“We always take any type of threat to our school safety seriously,” Superintendent Robert McBride said in a video the district posted Friday, noting that Lockport police officers walked through each building “to ensure the safety of the building.”
The Lockport threat followed recently soft locks from Rich Township High School District 227 and Park Forest-Chicago Heights District 163 after a social media threat circulated. Similarly, on Friday after police determined there was no immediate threat to student safety, District 205 initiated its “stay put” policy, allowing teachers to resume classes while students remained in their classrooms.
“Both buildings were safe and are safe,” McBride said after the school reopened. “We will always be in touch with our parents so you know what we know and know what’s going on.”
McBride said some district parents came to the school during the lockdown, which he said creates “a very unsafe situation” because they can block entrances for emergency vehicles. On Friday, parent vehicles temporarily blocked two ambulances from entering East Campus to help students with medical conditions unrelated to the lockdown.
McBride added another helpful practice is to offer students downtime in the wake of an extra stressful day at school.
“It’s so important to not just get into the weekend activities. I would ask you to take a break, because it creates incredible anxiety for the students,” he said. : It certainly does for our staff as well.”
The lockdown came on the same day as the school’s homecoming football game, which was set to go on as scheduled Friday night, McBride said. The school also planned to go ahead with its homecoming dance scheduled for Saturday night.
ostevens@chicagotribune.com