School board dispels rumours; says Drumlin Heights remains a safe learning environment

To dispel rumours and assure students, families and staff that Drumlin Heights Consolidated School is a safe learning environment, the Tri-County Regional School Board has released a summary of events that unfolded at the grade primary to 12 school over two days last week.

On Thursday, Oct. 2, the school board received a report that a student had shown a knife to several other students the previous week. A decision was made to search the student, the school and the bus. No knife was found and RCMP were notified.

This student has been removed from Drumlin Heights.

At the same time, in an unrelated incident, the school board says a student came to the office and asked for some help from the RCMP because he was very upset. To keep that distraught student calm and not distract classes, administration asked teachers to keep students out of the hallways until the student left the school to protect that student.

At no time was Drumlin Heights under a lockdown insists the board.

Last Friday morning, members of the administration went to all junior high and high school classes and provided the above information to the students. Information was provided to the elementary classes on a need to know basis. All students were provided the opportunity to seek support from the guidance counsellor, administration, and teachers.

During this time on Friday, a threatening note was found and this was reported to the administration. Administration contacted the superintendent and the RCMP. The decision was made to evacuate the students from the building as a precautionary measure, while the RCMP proceeded with their investigation.

The buses were contacted and students from P-9 were sent home at 11:30 a.m., accompanied by either a teacher or a member of the support staff. Normal school procedure for early dismissal is to contact all parents with children in grades primary to two. The board says in this incident the school could not place the calls immediately due to staff being evacuated from the building

But the board says calls were placed as soon as the staff were allowed to re-enter the school.

The school board is now looking at ways that calls to parents and guardians could be made, perhaps even from a remote location, to better the communication with all concerned in incidents like this, should they occur in the future.

A risk assessment was conducted by the RCMP after the discovery of the note and found there was no specific risk to students and staff at Drumlin Heights. This is now considered an isolated threat says the board.

The school has a plan in place to ensure the continued safety of the students and staff at Drumlin Heights. Classes will resume on Monday, Oct. 6 as normal.

Members of programs and student services staff will be on site to provide individual classroom support to both staff and students as needed. The school board says students and parents should be reassured that every effort is being made to ensure the education of students occurs in a safe and orderly environment.



The Tri-County Regional School Board commends the staff and students of Drumlin Heights for their positive attitude and willingness to help each other and cooperate during this incident.