Hillgrove School students were back in class Monday after a threat of violence caused the school to close its doors the previous Friday.
Hillgrove staff learned April 20 of a threatening message written on a bathroom stall in the former Sir George Simpson building, said St. Albert Public superintendent Krimsen Sumners. (Simpson and Robert Rundle merged to become Hillgrove last September.) While she could not disclose many details of the threat due to an ongoing police investigation, Sumners said the message was anonymous, not a bomb threat, and could be interpreted as a threat of violence to be carried out at the school on April 21.
As per the district’s threat assessment protocol, school staff consulted with RCMP and district office on their next steps, Sumners said. Staff decided to cancel classes Friday out of an abundance of caution.
Sumners said staff would have liked to have switched to online learning Friday instead, but were barred from doing so: as of last November, Alberta Education Minister Adriana LaGrange has required all schools who switch to online learning to simultaneously maintain in-person classes for parents who want them. Administration did not have enough time to ask Alberta Education to make an exception in this case.
“Our only option was to close the school,” Sumners said, adding that Hillgrove students will have to make up for the lost day later this term.
Classes resumed at Hillgrove April 24 with more than 90 per cent of students in attendance, St. Albert Public spokesperson Paula Power said in an email. The RCMP was on site at the school Monday and was still investigating the threat.
Anyone with information on the threat should call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
