COOPERSVILLE, Mich. (WZZM) -- The lockdown at Coopersville Public Schools is over.
Just before 4 p.m. Thursday, the schools posted this on their Facebook page:
Lock down is over. Everyone will be dismissed to go home soon. Please spread the word that buses will arrive late! Thanks for your patience! We take safety very seriously!
Parents were let in soon after to pick up their kids.
"Our main priority is student safety," explains Coopersville Schools Superintendent Ron Veldman. "We moved our students through our lock down procedures and secured our facilities and it went extremely well."
School officials say all students and staff were safe.
The Ottawa County Sheriff's Office says the lock down was initiated when someone called central dispatch around 2:50 p.m. and made some sort of threat against students and staff on campus. The school resource deputy and deputies dispatched to the scene checked the surrounding area for suspicious activity and swept the school buildings for threats.
The Senior and Middle Schools were already dismissed for the day.
Elementary and students involved in after school activities were locked inside for about 45 minutes.
"We get in a corner,close the blinds and lock the door," says elementary school student Jack Kluting. "That way no one can see us. It was kind of hard to be quiet because we were all cornered up and hot."
Investigators are trying to find the individual who made the threat. Dispatch was able to keep that person on the phone while deputies responded to the schools, but the caller eventually hung up.
This message went out to parents and was posted on the school's Facebook page at approximately 3:20 p.m. Thursday:
A message from COOPERSVILLE AREA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Good afternoon, this is Coopersville Public Schools. We are experiencing a lock down and all building are locked and students will be locked in their classroom until the Sheriff's Department authorizes dismissal. We will update you as soon as the situation changes.
We ask that you do not come to campus and pick up your child. Thank you.
Some parents were already arriving when the message was sent.
"I pulled up to the school to come get my kids and they had armed officers saying we were to park in parking lots in the area and we would be told when we could come get our kids," recalls parent Katie Powers. "That was kind of scary because, at that point, we had no idea how are kids were or what the lock down was about."
