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Officials determine there’s no threat to student safety at Summit Middle School

Kevin Fixler / kfixler@summitdaily.com
Summit County Sheriff's Deputies report to a lockout last May at the Summit Middle School.
Hugh Carey / Special to the Daily

Update from the Summit School District:

The Summit School District has just completed its review and investigation of today’s Safe2Tell tip and determined there is not a safety threat at Summit Middle School or at any other school in the district.

Summit County Sheriff’s Office deputies conducted their conversations with some middle school students and determined that information in the tip brought forward today is related to the threat that was already investigated and originated earlier this week in another school district and circulating on social media.

The district and Summit Middle School have now returned to normal operations.

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Summit Middle School was placed on lockdown Thursday morning as a precaution over a safety concern and deputies from the Summit County Sheriff’s Office were visiting individual classrooms to investigate. The Summit School District emphasized that all students are safe and the action is part of normal safety procedures when threats appear credible.

“Students are on lockout and being kept in their classrooms at the moment, and sheriff’s officers are walking the building and talking to students about their concerns for more information,” said district spokeswoman Julie McCluskie. “We hope to get through this and resolve it quickly.”

An alert went out a little after 9 a.m. via a text message system to district parents and referenced an email each should have also received. The communication concerned an anonymous tip through the district’s Safe2Tell line related to another safety tip from Monday.

Both the district and sheriff’s office issued press releases to local media Wednesday evening about that Monday tip. The sheriff office’s statement noted it investigated a threat that was to be carried out this week at the middle school, but later found that several districts in the state received similar information and there was no direct relationship to Summit County. However, the countywide law enforcement agency planned to continue maintaining a heightened presence at school activities and facilities.

“The Sheriff’s Office takes the safety of the school population and staff very seriously,” said Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons through the news release. “We will continue to actively investigate all criminal activity and threats in order to keep our school community safe and secure. This situation highlights the importance of always reporting any concerns promptly to parents, school officials, law enforcement or Safe2Tell Colorado.”

Seven sheriff’s vehicles were at the middle school on an otherwise quiet scene Thursday morning. Parents funneled through and lined their cars up in the small parking lot loop to walk inside the middle school vestibule to pick up their children.

The district plans to offer an update to parents and media shortly.


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