EL High School Sheltered in Place Again Today
Shortly after the end of today’s student walk-out over violence at East Lansing High School, the school was put under another “shelter in place” order just before 11 a.m.
The latest events occur as ELi continues to work to understand what happened at the school on Tuesday morning, when the situation was first described as a lockdown and later as a shelter-in-place order. ELi reported on Tuesday that the police found out the school was under a safety order not from school administrators but from a parent who called 911.
Today’s shelter-in-place event lasted about 20 minutes.
According to a notice sent out afterwards, “This morning[,] administration attempted to suspend a student for a non-violent offense. At that time[,] the student became upset and left the building. The student was then heard making threatening remarks toward the administration outside the building.
“Shortly after the student got back into the building, they went to a bathroom with another student. ELPD was called in order to escort the student out of the building and the shelter-in-place order was put in place as a precaution. ELPD is still on site to continue to ensure the safety of all staff and students.”
According to information provided to ELi by Superintendent Dori Leyko, under a shelter-in-place order, the exterior doors to a school building are locked and no one is allowed in or out. Teachers lock classroom doors and attempt to continue instruction.
Leyko told ELi late Tuesday a shelter-in-place order “is utilized when there is no known threat but when the above conditions support the completion of an ongoing investigation or when we have a medical emergency and we want to keep folks out of the hallways to allow for medics to enter or exit through halls or when there is a local event that is not a direct threat to school but is a precaution to keep kids inside.”
On Tuesday morning, East Lansing High School went under a similar order, first described to parents and teachers as a “lockdown” by school administration. An internal lockdown is ordered, according to Leyko, when “there is a confirmed threat inside the building. All doors locked, lights off, blinds drawn, students out of any sight lines.”
Tuesday morning’s event was described as involving an investigation into whether a student had a weapon on campus.
ELi reported on Tuesday that ELPD found out about the school being in a locked-down situation because a parent called 911. Ingham County 911 dispatch then alerted ELPD and officers proceeded to the school.
Leyko has not responded to questions from ELi about why she later called police in and why there were conflicting messages to families and staff about whether the school was under a shelter-in-place order or a lockdown.