UPDATE: Oak Park Elementary School Went Into 'Modified Lockdown' Wednesday

Oak Park Elementary School went into a “modified lockdown” Wednesday afternoon after a parent told school staff she saw a man walking near the school with a large butcher knife sticking out of his back pocket.

Police responded to the report at about 2:45 p.m., and located a man walking on Oxboro across from the Government Center with a chef's knife in his back pocket. Police quickly determined he was walking to work at Phil's Tara Hideaway and there was no threat or danger to students.

As soon as the parent reported the incident to the school secretary, police were called, an announcement was made over the loudspeaker, and all doors — interior and exterior — were locked, District spokesperson Carissa Keister said. While police responded to the incident, the students remained in their classrooms.

A school goes into modified lockdown when a threat, or perceived threat, is outside the building, Keister explained. During a modified lockdown, every door is locked, and no one can enter or leave the building.

“At that point teachers are on a heightened alert,” Keister said.

The announcement that is made over the loudspeaker simply states the school is in a modified lockdown, Keister said. Therefore, some teachers may have been under the impression it was a drill.

The modified lockdown was lifted after about 15 minutes, students were dismissed for the day shortly thereafter, and a staff meeting was held to debrief, Keister said.

“It wasn’t until the debriefing that most of the staff heard all the details of the incident, and learned it wasn’t a drill,” Keister said. “If students were told it was a drill, if wasn’t because teachers weren’t telling the truth, it happened so quickly that they didn’t know exactly what was going on until the staff meeting after school.”

School staff is very well prepared to respond to potential safety threats, Keister said. They drill a lot, and know the information so well that when they hear modified lockdown, they just react and it doesn’t matter if it is a drill or not.

In hindsight, Keister said there are things that could have been done differently, and school staff will learn from Wednesday’s incident.

The information should have gotten out to parents sooner, Keister said, but the primary focus is securing the school and the safety of the students.

“The timing of this incident made things tricky,” Keister said. "Moving forward, we will work to get information out to parents sooner."

After it was determined not to be a threat, staff’s priority was getting students on the bus, holding a debriefing for staff and then contacting parents.

“We will always ensure the safety of students first,” Keister said. “Then get the message out to parents.”

In this case, parents and guardians were notified via email at 4:25 p.m., and a voice message shortly after that.

Because of technology — text messaging and social media — and the school’s first priority being the safety of students, the district isn’t always the first to tell parents what happened.

“We try to get the information out to parents as soon as possible, but staff is also dealing with police and working to secure the building,” Keister said. “Unfortunately in this case some of the teachers passed along misinformation to students. Many of the teachers thought it was a drill until the debriefing — it was not an intentional lie. It is never our intention to misinform students.”

UPDATED FROM: Feb. 20 2013 11:58pm

Oak Park Elementary School on Wednesday went into a “modified lockdown.”

“An alert parent noticed a man walking in the vicinity of the school with a large butcher knife sticking out of his back pocket and reported this to the main office,” an email Oak Park Elementary Principal Ginny Kruse sent to parents and guardians reads. “Police were immediately called and all doors — interior and exterior — were locked. Students remained in their classrooms.”

The email was sent to parents and guardians at 4:25 p.m. The message did not state what time the incident happened.

Police responded quickly and were able to determine there was no threat or danger, Kruse wrote. The school then resumed “normal activities.”

“Our students and staff followed emergency procedures in a calm and orderly manner as we have practiced them,” Kruse wrote. “Our students’ safety is foremost, and we always will act on the side of caution.”

Stillwater Patch will update this post as more information is made available, so check back.