A two-day-old hold and secure order at a Leslieville school has emptied classrooms, with more than 80 per cent of students taken home by worried parents.
The general threat against Duke of Connaught Junior and Senior Public School was received by letter and prompted a hold and secure order on Thursday. That order lasted throughout the day and continued Friday as police continued to investigate the threat.
Officers searched the school Thursday and found nothing suspicious.
Officers are expected to be at the school all day to monitor the premises. They originally said there would not be a hold and secure Friday, but later confirmed that it will remain in place for a second day.
“In consultation with Toronto police, we have the hold and secure in place for the second day,” Toronto District School Board spokesperson Shari Schwartz-Maltz said. “That’s a consultation that goes on between the board, the school and the police. And they felt that it was import to maintain it today to make sure the kids are safe. So it’ll be in place until they tell us to lift it, hopefully by the end of the day.”
A brief and unrelated power outage to the school near Queen Street East and Woodfield Road and the surrounding neighbourhood Friday morning did little to help convince parents to bring their kids to school.
“Normally there’s about 900 kids who come to this school, so it’s a pretty big school. The last time I checked there were 160,” Schwartz-Maltz told CP24 Friday morning.
“Steadily we’re seeing throughout the day as news filters out – we’ve had some problems with the power and the hold and secure is maintained – so parents have been picking up their kids.”
She said learning continues in the classrooms as best as possible with more than 80 per cent of the kindergarten to Grade 8 school empty and added that students who are at school remain “100 per cent safe.”
Earlier in the day Toronto police said one person is in custody following an investigation into the threat to the school.
The male was taken into custody Thursday night on domestic charges and is considered a person of interest in connection with the threat, Toronto police said.
On Friday, another school -- Westwood Middle School located 12 minutes away -- was also put under hold and secure because of an unspecified threat. Police said they are looking to see if there's a connection between the two incidents.
In the meantime, students at Duke of Connaught are being kept inside for recess and lunch and are only being released to their parents. A planned Terry Fox Run Thursday was also postponed because of the situation.
Schwartz-Maltz said the school board is hoping that Monday will be a regular school day, but said social workers will be on scene today and next week to offer counselling to any students or staff who wish to speak with someone.
Police have not specified exactly what the threatening letter said.
