Hoax call scares children

PARENTS ran to their children’s aid after the Leongatha education precinct was sent into lockdown on Wednesday.

Leongatha Primary School received an anonymous phone call around midday, threatening the safety of students and staff.

A number of schools across Australia, including public schools in New South Wales and Queensland, also received threatening calls on Wednesday, believed to be part of a nationwide hoax.

Despite requests, a large number of families parked outside the schools on Ogilvy Street and hindered police’s inspection of the grounds.

“It does not help the situation when parents turn up to ensure the safety of their children,” Leongatha Primary School principal Rob Higgins said.

“If there had been a genuine risk they were only putting themselves in danger.”

Leongatha Primary School released Facebook posts throughout the afternoon to notify parents of the event and all schools involved sent out text messages to parents to reassure them their children were safe.

“Please do not come to the school in these situations as the police will refuse your entry and no children will be released to anyone until the police have declared the incident safe. This is a safety measure which we must follow,” Mr Higgins wrote.

The primary school, along with Leongatha Secondary College, South Gippsland Specialist School and Federation Training, immediately activated emergency procedures and contacted police.

Mr Higgins posted on Facebook that afternoon to inform parents of the events after the school was deemed safe by police.

“There was a threatening call to the school today. While this appears to be similar to the hoax calls received by schools in the past few days I can assure you that we are taking this extremely seriously,” he wrote.
“I’d like to thank our students and staff for the calm and efficient manner in which they conducted themselves.”

Distressed parents were relieved when the school was declared safe at 1.09pm.

“Thank you LPS staff,” one parent, Janine Lowe said.

“My kids are home safe, happy and relaxed. You have done a great job with our children on such a stressful day.”

While the school followed emergency procedures, some students were concerned for their safety.

“It was actually pretty scary,” Leongatha Secondary College student Molly Plymin said.

“The teachers did not seem to know whether or not it was a drill. I have a younger brother at the specialist school and I was worried about how he was handling the situation and whether or not he was scared.”

Krishia Sumalinog, also in Year 12 at Leongatha Secondary College, expressed similar concerns.

“Nobody had any idea what was going on. We were told to stay in one room away from the windows and we had to put our phones away,” Ms Sumalinog said.

Students were released from lockdown at lunchtime and classes resumed for the afternoon.

Victorian Police said, “Victoria Police is aware that a number of Victorian schools have received a threatening phone call.
“The schools have enacted their emergency management plans as a precaution.
“It appears to be a series of hoax calls similar to recent incidents, designed to cause disruption and attract media attention.
“Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential crime report to www.crimestoppers.com.au”

School locked: Leongatha Police attended Leongatha’s Education Precinct after Leongatha Primary School received a threatening phone call on Wednesday.

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Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Feb 23 2016. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry