R.D. Parker Collegiate reopened after a complete search of the school by RCMP April 23 after a written bomb threat was received, vice-principal Wally Itson said in a news release.
Weekend events went on as scheduled and classes resumed Monday morning.
The response to the threat was different than the last time such an incident occurred, on Nov. 26-27, 2009, when RCMP officers patrolled the school, which remained open, with parents given a letter Nov. 26 telling them that classes would resume as normal the following day with parents making the decision to send their children to school or not.
"We give people the information and they get to make their own decisions," said Principal Ryan Land at the time. "But if I didn't feel safe, we wouldn't have been open today. I feel safe. I'm feeling no heightened sense of stress today at all, other than that there's a little more traffic and the phone is ringing more than it would normally be," Land said.
According to Hugh Fraser, superintendent of the School District of Mystery Lake, around 18 per cent of students stayed home Nov. 27, 2009, but he said it was as impossible to tell whether that's because they were actually sick or worried about the threat, he says.
As a result Fraser said, the absenteeism wasn't noted on the School District of Mystery Lake's website because it was impossible to tell if it was "usual" or "unusual" at that point in time. In fact, the school district's website all day Nov. 27, 2009 claimed: "R.D. Parker Collegiate: No unusual absenteeism reported," even though almost one in five students officially were nowhere near the school to be seen.
This time the response was significantly different. R.D. Parker Collegiate was shut down for the afternoon due to the written bomb threat, Itson said in a news release issued April 23 at approximately 12:30 p.m.
"After consultation with the Thompson Fire & Emergency Services and the Thompson RCMP, R.D. Parker Collegiate is closed this afternoon due to a written bomb threat," Itson said. "Although the RCMP deems the threat to be low, we are taking this threat seriously and are taking all precautions to insure the safety of our students and staff," read the press release. "The school will be thoroughly searched and will re-open after approval from the RCMP."
