ALDEN — In the wake of a serious threat found in Alden-Conger School last week, the school’s Superintendent Joe Guanella on Sunday pledged his commitment to keeping the district’s students safe.

In front of a full-house crowd of parents and students at the school, Guanella answered questions and explained the security procedures that will take place today, the day included in the threat.

The day was of particular significance because of its correlation to a school shooting in Red Lake on March 21, 2005, when multiple people were shot and killed.

After recognizing the connection of the Red Lake shooting and the threat — written in a boys’ bathroom at the school on Wednesday — school officials and law enforcement officers put the school under lockdown Friday, looking for weapons and checking students’ handwriting.

They did not find any weapons or handwriting that matched and agreed to continue forward with classes today — but with many added security measures.

“I will do my darndest to protect your kids tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after and the day after,” Guanella said at the meeting.

The plan

Today, he said, there will be “significant” law enforcement presence, heavy monitoring of halls and limited access to the building. He noted he could not share some of the specific plans for staff.

“We need for this to be unknown for whoever might be a bad person,” Guanella said.

Law enforcement, from both the Alden Police Department and the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office, will be both inside and outside of the building, and the three main doors students use will be heavily monitored.

After school has started, he said people will only be able to enter the school through the front doors. The students will not be leaving the building during the day.

“I also understand if you don’t send your kids tomorrow,” he noted, though he later said he had confidence in the security plan in place.

Two other law enforcement officers privy to the investigation said they, too, felt comfortable sending their children to school.

More details about the threat

Though still declining to release the full message found in the threat, Guanella gave a few more details about it to the crowd.

He said the threat, with unique and distinctive handwriting, was found in the boys’ bathroom in the school by a student who reported it to staff. He said from the height of the message on the wall, officials are guessing it was written by a middle school- or high school-aged person.

There is not evidence that someone from outside of the school wrote the message. He said the bathroom was cleaned at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday, and the message was found at 9:10 a.m.

He encouraged the parents in attendance to talk to their children and ask them about what has happened and see if there is any information they know about the incident. Another person suggested parents take an inventory of their firearms and ammunition.

“Somebody’s kid in here knows somebody who wrote this — or knows someone who knows,” said Alden Police Chief Kris Harpham.

After a little bit of discussion, Guanella also agreed to e-mailing a portion of the threat to parents to show them the handwriting that was used.

If anyone had anything to report, Guanella and Harpham encouraged them to call 911 or 377-5205.

Guanella said if the person responsible is found, he or she will be arrested and expelled. He’s also guessing that person will be charged with a crime.

Future security

While admitting he was nervous and anxious for school today, Guanella noted that he’s never heard of an instance where authorities have responded to a threat and then that threat was still carried out.

He and Harpham said they did not know how many days officers would stay at the school.

In the future, officials will be reviewing access to the building and address response to these types of situations.

One parent asked about installing cameras at the school in the future.

“I don’t like the idea of being the Big Brother and staring at our kids, but we’ve reached that level,” Guanella responded.

Another parent expressed concern about the students living with fear and being afraid to come to school and asked if there were going to be counselors on hand to deal with students in need of help.

Guanella said he had already contacted the Freeborn County Crime Victims Crisis Center.

Leads about A-C threat
Anyone who has any information about the threat found at Alden-Conger School last week is encouraged to call 377-5205, Ext. 5. A dispatcher at the Law Enforcement Center will answer, then direct the call to the proper authority. Look for updates from the school today at AlbertLeaTribune.com.