After Perceived Threats, Council Rock High School North Held Virtual School Tuesday

NEWTOWN, PA — The Newtown Township Police Department released information about potential threats to Council Rock High School North, saying officials opted to hold school virtually Tuesday to allow time to strategize about future mitigation efforts.

According to John L. Hearn, police chief, school officials told the Newtown Township Police School Resource Officer received information on Friday at 3 p.m. that a student may have made a threat between two and four weeks earlier. That information had been reported by other students. Police immediately initiated an investigation, they wrote in a news release.

Investigators located and interviewed several students as well as the accused student over the course of several hours.

"Communications with the District Attorney’s Office and Juvenile Probation were ongoing, and upon further analysis of the incident, and additional information from witnesses, a determination was made that no credible threat was found, but the investigation would continue," Hearn wrote.

However, after school officials shared that information with parents, social media information continued to circulate.

Police said the messaging circulating online was false, but led to many students staying home from school Monday.

Then, on Monday evening, someone made another perceived threat through the "Safe 2 Say Something" line to Newtown Police, which allows anonymous reporting online around risk factors and signals of problems in school.

But police said this was also not a credible threat.

"This investigation revealed the perception to be non-factual and not a credible threat to the school district or students, and this information was shared with school officials," Hearn wrote.

Then, "out of an abundance of caution, to ensure for the safety and protection of the students and staff," Council Rock North officials opted to host virtual school Tuesday. This partly allowed for police and officials to discuss the two unrelated threats, as well as steps to mitigate future issues within the district.

A criminal investigation is continuing by Newtown Detectives, to determine whether any charges are warranted from either incident.

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