Yellowknife school increases security after youth charged for threats

Students returning from spring break to a Yellowknife school this week will see increased security on school grounds, after an arrest of a student last month.

The principal of the school whomCBC cannot name due to a publication ban in court that prevents identifying the school and the youth who's a minor forwarded CBC a copy of an email sent to parents and guardians last Friday that explained the new safety plan the school has adopted.

A youth appeared in court March 23, after allegedly threatening to shoot three students at a Yellowknife school, a lawyer working on the case confirmed to CBC at the time. According to the lawyer, the youth was sent to Edmonton for a psychological assessment in March.

Security cameras, more secure doors now in place

As of Tuesday at the school, all entrances except the front door arelocked during the day, and all four of the school's exterior doors are now monitored by security cameras.

A monitor to display the security camera feeds has been installed in the school's main office to keep an eye on who goes in or out of the building.

Classroom doors are also being retrofitted with hardware to make them more secure after they're locked.

A lock-down drill will be held on Thursday, and the principal said staffwill "personally go to every homeroom" to review the procedure. The drills are required practice, along with fire drills, throughout the school year.

The principal said in the email that they have been "actively dealing with [the] incident" since March 15 and reassured parents that there was no direct threat.

"This information was disclosed to a staff member and no students were directly threatened," the principal said. "At no time were any of our students or staff under immediate threat."

Other schools not following the lead

CBC has contacted all three school boards in Yellowknife to see if changes to existing school security plans were being contemplated. The superintendents of the two boards not responsible forthe school in questionsaid no changes were being made to the boards' existing security policies.

The school board which has jurisdiction of the school in question, however, said the extended security measures are limited to that school only.

"I would like to reiterate my commitment to the safety and wellbeing of everyone, students and staff, at [the] school," the principal said in the email.