St. Joan of Arc Catholic High School in south-end Barrie was placed in a "very brief" lockdown followed by a hold-and-secure, Thursday afternoon, before the all-clear was given by police.
At 1:34 p.m., city police received a call about “an unsubstantiated threat” made toward the Mapleton Avenue school.
Barrie police communications co-ordinator Peter Leon said there was a “significant police presence” while the validity of the threat was investigated.
“We did respond and after investigating the situation, we deemed the threat to be nothing in the end,” Leon told BarrieToday. “We can say it doesn’t seem to have come from inside the school, but well outside.”
At 2:13 p.m., an email from school principal Natalie Zyla went out to parents to alert them the hold-and-secure had been lifted.
“This afternoon, we were made aware of an unsubstantiated threat which we immediately reported to Barrie Police Services," Zyla said in the email. "As a precautionary measure, the school was placed into lockdown for a very brief period of time."
Barrie police attended the scene, investigated and moved the school into a hold-and-secure, she added.
“Once Barrie Police Services completed their investigation, they advised us that there was no threat to students at our school and the hold-and-secure was lifted," Zyla said. "The students and staff were safe and secure at all times.”
This is the second threat made to a Barrie high school in the last nine days following a similar incident at nearby Bear Creek Secondary School on Red Oak Drive, where a threat was received on Sept. 14. That incident occurred around 7:30 a.m., with the all-clear coming about 30 minutes later.
Later that afternoon, Georgian College was placed into lockdown for just over an hour after a report of a suspicious person who may have been in possession of a weapon. Barrie police confirmed that after an investigation of the college grounds and locating of the person in question, there was “never any threat.”
Leon said today's incident at St. Joan of Arc does not appear to be linked to the Bear Creek situation.
