RCMP officers were standing guard at Paul Kane Monday in response to a threat against the school’s staff, but apart from some icy sidewalks, there wasn’t much for them to guard against.
About five St. Albert RCMP officers were posted in and around Paul Kane High School on Monday in response to an alleged threat against one of its staff members.
Last Feb. 17, a student from a visiting sports team said that he had spotted a threatening message written on a cubicle wall in the men’s washroom at the back of the school, said Paul Kane principal Duncan Knoll. The message, which was erased by a caretaker before Knoll could see it, allegedly threatened a specific staff member, with said threat to be carried out on Feb. 22 (Monday).
Knoll sent a letter to parents informing them of the situation on Feb. 19.
While there were a fair number of student absences Monday, Knoll said all but two members of the school’s staff were present, with the two absent doing training off-site. He declined to say if the target of the threat was at the school Monday.
The day otherwise passed without incident.
“Students enjoyed each other’s company and did their learning, so it was a good day here,” Knoll said.
RCMP have not substantiated this “obscure threat” but continue to investigate it, said Insp. Ken Foster, head of the St. Albert detachment. They have not decided if they will lay charges.
“Anytime we have a threat it’s that balance of how serious you treat it,” Foster said, but you have to take every one seriously until you can prove they’re not.
Threats often turn out to be fake, but they have real consequences, Foster said.
“There’s a lot of people (that) become involved, a lot of personnel hours,” he said.
“That actually takes away from the learning environment for the children and the staff, and it shakes their safety and their confidence.”
Foster asked parents to talk to their children about the ramifications of making threats, real or otherwise, and to ask them about their personal safety.
Knoll said incidents such as this were rare at Paul Kane, with the last one happening on Dec. 18, 2007.
Back then, RCMP manned the front doors after a message that allegedly said “Dec. 18, 2007 massacre” was spotted in a washroom in mid-November. Although police quickly determined it to be a hoax, rumours prompted school staff to call in the cops. Less than 250 of the school’s 1,100 students attended class that day.
The school was also evacuated twice in 2000 due to bomb threats.
Knoll said he was not sure how long the police would remain at the school, but said he had been told they would alter their presence as the risk level fell.
“Hopefully they can find out who was the perpetrator of the threat and we can get on with what we do here.”
Knoll thanked police and students for their excellent work on Monday.
“We’re going to carry on with business as usual.”
Anyone with information on this threat is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
