A Stittsville high school has postponed its Remembrance Day assemblies due to a threatening piece of graffiti recently discovered in a bathroom stall.
According to a letter addressed to parents and guardians of students at Sacred Heart High School, there is “no evidence the threat is legitimate.”
“However, every threat made on our school, whether it’s via social media post or a graffiti tag, is taken very seriously,” principal Brent Hopkins wrote in the letter, which is dated Nov. 8 and was posted online on Saturday.
The letter says that the threat “came in the form of graffiti on a bathroom stall stating a bombing and/or shooting would take place in the library or theatre” on Monday.
The Abbott Street E.-Shea Road school falls under the Ottawa Catholic School Board and serves Grades 7 to 12.
The school “immediately contacted” Ottawa police and is requesting anyone with information to do the same.
Global News contacted Ottawa police on Saturday afternoon but was unable to acquire more information. Global News also contacted the school and the school board for more information but was advised to contact Ottawa police with any further questions.
In the letter, Hopkins says the safety of their students and employees is the “highest priority” and that the school had to make the “difficult decision” to postpone Remembrance Day ceremonies to a later date, yet to be determined.
A class-based ceremony will take place over the PA system instead, with Ottawa police supporting the school, and school resource officers on campus throughout Monday “as an added precaution.”
“Our staff will be at school on Monday and have regular school day activities planned,” Hopkins wrote.
He also said that the threat is “all the more unsettling” because of the solemn commemorative nature of Remembrance Day.