School lockdown rage
Angry parents demand answers over response
ANGRY parents are demanding answers from a Gold Coast school about why they were not fully informed about their children’s safety during a four-hour lockdown.
Helensvale State School, for primary pupils, went into lockdown at 9.30am yesterday after a threatening message was left on an administration answering machine.
It is being investigated if the threat was actually intended for Helensvale State High. It has been at the centre of a nasty cyber-bullying saga involving young girls verbally abusing another student, which came to light on social media last week.
Late night, the high school axed a P&C meeting.
“It is concerning some of the communications being shared within our community and on social media have been hostile and threatening in nature,” a letter sent out by high school executive principal Karen Lindsay said.
Ms Lindsay wrote it wasn’t a conducive environment for healthy and robust debate and she’d wanted to use the meeting to update parents about anti-bullying measures.
“However, the Department (of Education) this morning provided me with advice the P&C meeting should be rescheduled to a time we can focus solely on talking about this important issue.”
In relation to the earlier primary school lockdown, police declined to release what the threat was, saying it would directly affect the investigation. It is understood they are trying to track a phone number and where the call was made.
Concerned parents flocked to the primary school after hearing about the lockdown.
The school sent a scant email two hours after the lockdown began. Parents received another email hours later, again lacking information about what occurred, to let them know it was over.
A pupil’s mother said she cried when she saw her son was okay: “Not knowing what’s happened to your child is awful.
“It annoys me so much we don’t know what is going on.’’
Her son said he was freaked out.
A father with three kids at the school said he intended getting a group of parents together today to demand answers from the principal.
“This has been going on all day,” he said. “To not let parents know for an hour and a half to two hours after lockdown isn’t good enough.
“We’ve been told to stay away, but how can we? Our kids aren’t allowed out and we’re not allowed in. Something needs to be changed.”
A parent claimed a teacher broke ranks and personally emailed saying, “the kids are perfectly safe and working hard in class. He is perfectly fine. I’m not concerned at all. It’s a normal day.”
Education Minister Grace Grace said the school sent an SMS and email to parents.
“In the event of a threat against a school, the first priority is to ensure the safety and security of students and staff,” she said.
“Following the advice of police, parents and carers are then notified immediately.