Threats lead to lockdowns, evacuation at Lexington schools. Students safe.
Two Fayette County schools went on lockdown Friday morning after receiving threats, though district officials said all students and staff are safe.
District spokesperson Miranda Scully said Ashland Elementary received a phone call at 9:50 a.m. that included a bomb threat, resulting in students being evacuated from the building and sent to an off-site location.
All students and staff are safe, Scully said. Students are with teachers and are going to have lunch.
Lexington police and Fayette County school police were searching Ashland Elementary, she said. It had not been decided by mid-morning whether students would return to the school building Friday. District officials did not immediately identify the off-site location.
Lexington’s Henry Clay High School also went on lockdown just after 10 a.m. Friday because of a threatening phone call to the front office, Principal Antonio Blackman told families in a message.
The students and staffed stayed inside the building amid the alert.
Blackman said this was done out of an abundance of caution and under the advisement of Lexington police.
“All of our students and staff remained safe inside the building during the alert, and Fayette County Public Schools Police are providing an extra layer of security in and around our campus,” he said.
Scully, in an 11 a.m. Friday interview, said the lockdown at Henry Clay High School had been lifted.
The incident continues a recent and frequent pattern of schools going on lockdown because of unfounded threats. A threat was called in to Lafayette High School and Lexington Catholic High School Wednesday along with other Eastern Kentucky schools, according to WKYT.
Kentucky State Police previously said it’s investigating a robocalling campaign that is suspected to be reporting the threats toward schools. None of the threats has been deemed credible.
Scully said she could not speak to whether Friday’s incidents in Fayette County were tied to the other threats.