Three notes detailing threats found at Westview Secondary in Maple Ridge
Posted December 13, 2019 11:47 am.
Last Updated December 13, 2019 3:54 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MAPLE RIDGE (NEWS 1130) – The Maple Ridge School District has confirmed a threat was made against a local secondary school within the past week, but it’s unclear if it’s credible or not.
Westview Secondary School was open on Friday morning, but many students weren’t there as Mounties were stationed outside because of the threat.
According to Irena Pochop with the school district, the threat was left in three separate washrooms.
“And the threat identified December, Friday the 13th, as the date,” she told NEWS 1130. “We haven’t been able to establish that the threat is credible, but we have also not been able to rule this out.”
Mounties have been called in to investigate, and Pochop says the district is doing what it can to assist them.
“We take all threats absolutely seriously,” she said, adding the RCMP presence at the school was a precautionary measure.
Because it is an ongoing investigation, Pochop can’t talk about whether the person who made the threat has been identified or questioned.
There has been speculation that this was just a prank, but she reiterates that all threats are taken seriously.
“It is Friday the 13th, which is quite ominous, but we always assume that a threat is serious and we always take every precaution,” she said.
Students, their families, and staff were notified about what was happening on Thursday afternoon.
Pochop admits any threat is a concern, even if it is intended as a prank.
“We always take it seriously, and parents respond to it as though it were a real threat,” she said. “As a school district, it’s our responsibility to ensure that parents have all the information they need to make an informed decision, and then it is up to the individual families to decide if they want to send their children in.”
She stresses the school is safe and that it was open on Friday.
Pochop has confirmed the incident at Westview Secondary is unrelated to another reported threat made against a student at Samuel Robertson Technical.
