Porirua school clear after threat sparked lockdown
Aotea College’s principal is praising the calm response from students and parents after a student received a message on their cellphone with a threat towards the school.
The Porirua high school initially went into lockdown, then was evacuated with police oversight after the alarm was raised around 10.30am yesterday. Police left the school shortly before 4pm.
Inspector James McKay, the KapitiMana area commander, said police treated all threats as credible until addressed and he was ‘‘confident there is no current safety risk’’.
‘‘We’re aware of the distress this would have caused in the school community and thank everyone for their co-operation.
‘‘We are following initial lines of inquiry to identify the person or people involved in the initial threat.’’
Aotea College principal Kate Gainsford said the school had been communicating throughout the day so everybody was up to date with what was happening.
She praised the school community’s ‘‘amazing’’ response.
‘‘Parents waited outside patiently, there was no chaos or mad rush to pick up their children. That’s amazing because they were out there worrying and wondering. Everyone has been so good and so helpful,’’ Gainsford said.
An email to parents said some NCEA exams yesterday would not go ahead. Local schools were ready at accommodate Aotea College students for exams.
Gainsford said exams would resume as planned today.
‘‘The students are a resilient bunch –
they could have chosen not to do their exams (yesterday) afternoon, but they went to other schools and did them anyway.’’
The school would be ‘‘as helpful as we can to the police’’, she said.
Earlier two fathers of students, who asked not to be named, said a person sent a message referencing a shooting via the iPhone AirDrop function to anyone in range.
The person sent a photo at the same time showing they were in the school car park.
A student told The Dominion Post a person had been airdropping ‘‘random inappropriate things’’ to students in the weeks prior and the student said they now felt scared about the safety at the school.
‘‘I hope it’s a prank, but this has gone too far.’’
While the lockdown was in place, parents lined the streets outside the school. One mother said her 15-year-old daughter texted to say she was under a desk.