Crenshaw Co. schools to return to normal after two-day shutdown over threat
CRENSHAW COUNTY, AL (WSFA) - Schools across Crenshaw County were closed for the second day in a row Wednesday in order to give authorities time to track down the person who wrote a concerning post on social media threatening to do harm at a school in the area.
The entire Crenshaw County school system, as well as local private schools and a community college campus, were closed Tuesday after law enforcement came across the alarming post. Then, officials announced that schools were also closed Wednesday.
"We're working closely with authorities. We're very thankful for the hard and diligent work by them. We wanted to give them an additional day to finish the investigation and hopefully make an arrest the individual that made the threat here in Crenshaw County," said Dr. Boyd English, school superintendent.
Crenshaw Christian Academy was also closed again Wednesday and parents indicated other private schools were also shut down for the second day in a row.
Lurleen B. Wallace Community College's Luverne campus remained closed Wednesday. The college tweeted: "LBWCC Luverne Center remains CLOSED on Wednesday, October 4, as an abundance of caution due to an unspecified threat related to schools in Crenshaw County and upon the recommendation of the county sheriff."
"We want to make sure that every child is protected and I think our parents have been very understanding and cooperative throughout this process and we thank them," Dr. English said.
The threat was not specific to a particular school or even to a particular system in Crenshaw County. The FBI discovered the threat and notified local law enforcement on Monday.
The FBI would not comment on the post and what it stated and would not say if an arrest had been made in the case Wednesday. A spokesman said agents are assisting local law enforcement with technical resources and have a great working relationship with agencies in Crenshaw County.
Whitney Ball's child attends New Covenant Christian Academy in Brantley, which was impacted with closures due to the threat.
"It's horrifying because there were no details given about the situation. We just had to find out through social media and third party about what was going on," she said. "Until we hear more details, I'm not sending my child back to school."
She was very supportive of the county-wide school closures as a safety precaution, but indicated that the whole ordeal has had families scrambling to find care for their children.
"I had to find alternate care for my child, which I'm thankful because my parents are both at home so he's in good hands, but for other parents, they had to call in and out of work in order to be there with their child because of this threat," she stated.
Niketha Braxton has a daughter in the tenth grade and has heard questions and concerns swirling around the Crenshaw County Courthouse where she works.
"They won't tell us much of anything. The parents have heard that it's a threat here at the schools. They let the students out for two days and that's all we know. We don't know anything," she said. "I'm not sending my child back to school until I know something more. We're just pretty much in the blind. I hope they find out what's going on."
She said some parents have been bringing their children to work. Others have been late coming to work and some have just missed work. But she too commended Crenshaw County schools and authorities for taking steps to protect children and teachers.
"I've had customers come in and they ask me what's going on and I can't tell them anything because I don't know anything myself. Everyone is just really concerned about what's going on. It's really a big talker around here," she added. "I hope something is done and I hope something is done soon."
Dr. English says the missed days will need to be made up and the school system is looking at different dates on the calendar.
"We're required by the state of Alabama to have a certain number of instructional hours and also the legislature has mandated a certain number of teacher days. We will make these days up and we'll make that determination in the very near future," he stated.
Crenshaw County school system leaders are being briefed every few hours by law enforcement and met with the FBI agent in charge of the investigation Tuesday morning.
"We feel really confident that this will be resolved today but at this time, we're still in the process of allowing authorities to continue to investigate and we want to give them all of the necessary time to make sure that we do get the person responsible in this case," English said.
On Wednesday night, the school system revealed that schools would reopen on Thursday and that the threat was handled:
We appreciate everyone's cooperation and understanding as we have worked with federal, state, and local authorities in addressing the threat that caused us to alter our school calendar and close school. We feel confident that authorities have the eliminated the threat to our schools and community that was revealed to us this week. Therefore, we feel that we have the necessary information to return to our normal daily activities at each school campus beginning on Thursday, October 5, 2017.
We would like to commend all agencies (federal, state, and local) for their efforts to ensure the safety of everyone in Crenshaw County each and every day. We will continue to do our part in making sure that our schools are safe for everyone in the Crenshaw County Schools family. Have a great evening!
Late Wednesday afternoon, there was a heavy presence of law enforcement officials at the Crenshaw County Sheriff's Office. The district attorney, Luverne police chief, sheriff and other agents walked in and investigators were spotted carrying in evidence bags. Officials have yet to confirm if an arrest has been made in the case.
Dr. English stressed that the decision to return to normal school operations Thursday was made after consulting with federal, state and local authorities.
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