Saugus High locked down after threat

SAUGUS – Saugus High School was ordered locked down and later evacuated Friday morning after a gun threat was phoned in to the school.As of Friday evening, there was no indication of a firearm found at the school, nor any injuries reported.Students were reportedly given the go ahead by police to pick up their vehicles after 5 p.m. Friday, however, personal belongings remaining inside the school were not allowed to be retrieved until Monday morning.In addition, all home athletic events and activities at the school have been canceled for the weekend.Superintendent of Schools Keith Manville said an unidentified caller phoned in the threat to the central administration office around 10:45 a.m.”We received a telephone threat there may be a firearm in the school,” he said. “In this day and age everything is a credible threat. We called police and the building was locked down by 10:50 a.m.”Shortly after noon, the district started transferring students to other locations so their parents could pick them up. Manville said the freshmen and sophomores were bused to Blessed Sacrament Church and the juniors and seniors were taken to the American Legion.Manville said the entire school would be searched, locker-by-locker and duffle bag by duffle bag.Immediately after the school was locked down, the district activated the automated telephone notification system to inform parents the school was locked down and they would not be able to contact their children.Elaine Shah, who has a son in ninth grade, received two automated calls from the school. She said the first call informed parents the school was in complete lockdown.”The message said not to call kids on their cell phones, not to call the school or attempt to enter the premises. It also said it was not an immediate threat and we’d be kept informed.”Shah said it was nerve wracking sitting by the telephone and not knowing what was happening.”I didn’t get the second call until 12:28 p.m.,” she said. “It informed us where the kids were being transferred to and told us to pick the kids up. It didn’t tell us what happened or anything.”Shah said when she picked her son up, some of the students were still visibly distraught.”My son said the students were searched,” he said. “He said some kids were really scared – they were crying and everything.”Joanne Fafard, who has a daughter at the high school, said she was very shaken and scared when she received word of the lockdown.”I was frantic for almost two hours,” she said. “Just not knowing what was going on scared me. The way the phone message was worded I thought this must be more than a prank. Hearing ‘no threat at the moment’ without additional details was very scary.”When Fafard picked her daughter up at the American Legion, she said the scene was “organized chaos.””There were police, emergency personnel and MBTA buses pulling up with kids in them,” she said. “I have to give kudos to the town, though. The police kept traffic flowing, teachers made sure they knew who was picking up each student. Everyone did a great job.”