Parents of students at all public and Catholic schools in Kemptville, as well as two schools in Iroquois, were rattled by threats of violence in the early morning hours of October 3. An OPP report confirms that the two schools specifically named were Seaway District High School in Iroquois and St. Michael Catholic High School in Kemptville. School officials and the OPP became aware of the threats some time prior to 2am, and made the decision to close all schools in both towns out of an abundance of caution. This meant several school closures in Kemptville, while the only other school in Iroquois is Iroquois Public School. For Kemptville area schools, this was the second incident related to unrealized threats of violence leveled by anonymous individuals in the span of a few weeks.
On September 13, a similar threat put St. Michael Catholic High School into lockdown for several hours while the school was searched. The situation on October 3 was different, with threats leveled before students were in the building, necessitating full closures of the multiple schools included in the area of the threats as a precaution.
St. Michael in particular appears unable to catch a break from the cowardly and serious threats, because once again on October 4, it was targeted. An October 4 email to parents reads: “At midnight, the board received a call from the OPP indicating that they spoke directly to an anonymous person who indicated that at the beginning of the school day on Friday, October 4, there would be an act of violence involving weapons that would take place at St. Michael CHS.” The email goes on to assure that support will be available to students who need it, given the emotional impact of such threats.
By the evening of Sunday, October 6, authorities were still not comfortable about the safety of St. Michael CHS. An email sent to parents read, in part: “As of this evening, a full evaluation of threats to St. Michael CHS has not been completed in order to accurately assess the risk to public safety.” The email goes on to explain that the school would once again be closed on Monday, October 7. Reactions from parents were mixed, with some suggesting that the best option would be to open the school with enhanced security.
As of the time of writing, there has been no information about who might be threatening area schools repeatedly, or why. There are more questions than answers. Who stands to benefit from the temporary closure of a handful of schools? Are more threats to come? Are the threats of violence real? It’s difficult to think of how these actions could benefit anyone. We can only hope that the culprits are caught and punished in a manner consistent with the seriousness of making threats against our schools and by extension, our children.
