A Hold and Secure position at Mallaig School has now been lifted effective 1:45 p.m.
In a letter to parents posted on the school's social media and supplied to the St. Paul Journal, Principal Gisele Hall informed them that "in consultation with our central office, school personnel and our local RCMP detachment, the Hold and Secure was lifted and normal school activities have resumed. At this point, we feel there is no safety risk to students and staff and there will be no need to continue the hold and secure tomorrow."
Hall acknowledged the cooperation of students through the day indicating they had remained calm.
"Our actions and decisions are guided by our commitment to student safety, our responsibilities under the Education Act, and respect for procedures and processes of the law. Many factors are considered when deciding what information to share and when, but rest assured that our goal is always to notify you of serious incidents that could affect the safety of your children. In situations like this, we try to balance duly informing parents of the situation while trying not to unnecessarily alarm you. We will always err on the side of caution," Hall stated in the letter.
Meanwhile, authorities remain quiet as to what exactly precipitated the need to put the school into the state of security for most of the day. There is no information forthcoming from the RCMP as to what occurred, or even confirmation that they are investigating anything. The school division is saying only that an incident occurred outside of school property at some point last night.
“We were notified of something late last night, so early this morning in consultation with both school personnel and, of course, in keeping with our protocol and also in consultation with the RCMP detachment, a hold and secure was put on for the day,” St. Paul School Division Superintendent Glen Brodziak confirmed to the Journal this morning.
“We believe at this point this to be a very low-level situation but when it comes to the safety of the students and the staff we always have to be proactive. It’s a fine balance between over-reacting and under-reacting, but we would sooner be on the safe side and I would want that as a parent.”
RCMP were not on site at the school.
“We are quite certain that no one in the school is in danger and I would absolutely have my own children there today," Brodziak stated, in speaking to the Journal earlier today.
Hold and Secure means all outside doors are locked and monitored and students are kept inside the building throughout the day but normal inside school activities take place.
