The Coquitlam School District says two secondary schools in the city are no longer under a hold and secure order on Thursday.
The school district stated that Centennial and Gleneagle secondary schools were impacted and the order for a hold and secure was at the request of the RCMP, who were present at both schools for hours.
“I’d like to start off with letting the community know that students and staff of the Coquitlam School District are safe,” Insp. Todd Balaban, acting officer in charge of the Coquitlam RCMP, said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.
“Thanks to the quick actions of the schools implementing their hold and secure protocols, our officers were able to quickly attend and verify the safety and security of the school.”
The two incidents on Thursday followed similar incidents on Wednesday.
Eight schools across Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam were also placed under a hold and secure on Wednesday after numerous threats were called into the schools.
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An elementary school in Port Moody was also affected.
“Through our ongoing investigation, we confirmed that these instances are connected,” Balaban said. “We can confirm the nature of the alleged threats have varied, but in order to protect the integrity of the investigation, no information will be provided.
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“These threats were received by phone.”
Balaban added that police are aware of information circulating on social media about the investigation and are asking anyone who may have information to contact them at 604-949-5054.
“We take every threat seriously, because it’s a child, it’s family,” he added.
“We have to take it seriously until proven otherwise. So we implement the protocols that we have in place, we have the officers attend, we assess it, and then we can downgrade it once we know that the threat is not there and that the community is safe, the schools are safe, kids are safe and staff are safe.”
Sharon Perry, a concerned parent, told Global News via zoom on Thursday morning that hearing the school is on a hold and secure again is scary.
“I mean, the first time, the second time, the third time … your heart just stops,” she said.
Receiving messages that your child is scared and there’s nothing you can do is one of the hardest things a parent can go through. Living a block away from the school, seeing the police show up, seeing them block the streets, seeing the very large guns that they’re all carrying. It’s just being helpless.”
Perry said she would like to see more communication from the school district about what is happening.
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