Upper Darby High goes on lockdown — again
UPPER DARBY » For the second time in a week, Upper Darby High School was placed in lockdown out of “an abundance of caution” after a person outside the school allegedly threatened violence against a student and tried to gain entrance, according to emails sent to the community Tuesday morning.
An email sent by Upper Darby School District Director of Communications Dr. Aaronda Q. Beauford at about 11:20 a.m. indicated the school was in “lockdown” status and that police had been dispatched to the campus. The lockdown was lifted at about 11:45 a.m., according to a follow up email, and dismissal and transportation were expected to take place at regularly scheduled times.
“A student reported to a school administrator that a person located outside of the school building threatened physical violence toward the student and had been communicating with other students for assistance in gaining entrance into the building,” the second email reads. “The police arrived to school and have a person of interest in custody at this time.”
Upper Darby Police Superintendent Tim Bernhardt said responding officers did speak with the person who had allegedly made the threats and his parents, but no one was taken into custody and no charges were lodged. The juvenile was instructed not to return to the campus and was sent on his way, Bernhardt said.
The high school was placed in a “lock-in” status for close to an hour last Tuesday morning as well, after a teacher overhead some students talking about a gun.
“The good news is that it was a false alarm,” Beauford said following the April 27 incident.
Beauford said that in the prior lockdown, two students overheard other students discussing a fight that took place in the community the week before. Those students later discussed what they had heard in front of a teacher and there was some mention of a gun during that exchange, she said.
“The teacher hears the word ‘gun’ and doesn’t understand the context around it, doesn’t hear anything else, and contacts administration immediately and the school goes into ‘lockin’ out of an abundance of caution at that point,” said Beauford.
That lockdown lasted about an hour and twenty minutes before responding officers determined there was no gun on campus and no danger at that time.
“Fortunately, the police were aware of the incident that occurred in the community and they were able to vet it,” said Beauford. “The police had some of the background information so they were able to vet it quicker.”