Students safe after threats towards Challis High School
Challis High School received two threats in the past seven days. The first, on February 15th, came from a student who was taken into custody. The second came yesterday. Since then, the school district has added extra security.
“We’ve had an increase in our law enforcement on our school campuses,” Peter McPherson, Superintendent of the Challis School District, said. “And again, they’ve done a great job for us. Our Custer County Sheriff’s office, we work pretty closely with those folks. And major kudos to them and the role that they have really filled for us the last couple of days.”
The district also praises the students for the way they’ve handled the threats.
“We’ve got great kids and a great supportive community here,” said McPherson. “And it’s always difficult for students to be in these types of situations. But again, I wanna basically say our kids are wonderful and are very supportive and we have a great atmosphere and environment in all of our schools.”
Authorities say now is definitely not the time to be making threats toward schools, even if it is a joke.
“It’s a sensitive time based upon those things that are going on, understandably so,” Daniel Clark, Prosecuting Attorney for Bonneville County, said. “You know, any threats that we receive that are directed towards our schools, especially our children, those things will be fully investigated and fully prosecuted because of that.”
“We take it serious,” said McPherson. “It’s unfortunate that we have to deal with, you know, these issues in today’s day and age. And we want what’s best for our students, we want what’s best for, you know, our employees. And we all got into education to make a difference in kids lives and that’s really what we want to focus on.”
Both threats are still being investigated. Authorities say students are safe. District administration says they’ve done active shooter training with employees in the past and says it’s very possible they will have more training in the future.
