Recent officer-involved shootings at schools in Oshkosh and Waukesha have other school districts in Northeast Wisconsin on high alert. Some schools are dealing with online threats and false alarms.
The Sturgeon Bay Police Department arrested a Sturgeon Bay High School student after investigating a "non-specific" threat made against the school on social media. Police say the 17-year-old boy is currently in the Door County Jail awaiting charges. There is no active threat to the Sturgeon Bay School district at this time, police said Wednesday.
Tuesday evening, the superintendent of the Appleton Area School District sent an email informing parents of an online threat that referred to “North High School.” Appleton Police determined that the origin of the threat, apparently made on Snapchat, was from outside of the United States and was not directed at Appleton North High School. Police don't believe there is currently a credible threat directed at the Appleton school.
In another incident, the Ripon Area School District said staff at the Ripon High Schoolaccidentally activated the threat alarm system Tuesday afternoon. The school district says there was not an actual threat at any school in the district.
The school district said staff members were reviewing protocol in the wake of the incidents at Waukesha and Oshkosh. During this process, the school district said the RHS and RMS alarm system was inadvertently activated.
While staff was working to deactivate the alarm, information about the alert was sent out to police and parents, as well as the school district's website. The school district says it took time for staff to understand what happened, work to deactivate the alarm and inform the police and parents.
The school district is working to find out what occurred to prevent such incidents in the future.
