Updated 5:45 p.m. — Manassas police said city officials did a good job communicating with the public during a lockdown at several schools last week.
Just before 1 p.m. On Thursday, January 26, 2022, administrators placed Osbourn High School and two other schools, Baldwin Intermediate and Elementary schools and Metz Middle School, into “secure the building” mode, where no one could enter or exit the building while instructors continued teaching.
Police surrounded the building after they learned someone with a bomb was going to try to walk onto the school grounds. Police in neighboring Prince William County learned of a similar threat and locked up nearby Unity Reed High School (formerly Stonewall Jackson Senior High School).
Manassas City Schools Spokeswoman Almeta Radford said the school system’s decision to place the schools in ‘”secure the building” status was a precautionary measure based on the information it received from police.
Parents turned to social media to ask what was happening and relied on information from their children who were texting from their classrooms. The Manassas school administration posted to social media announcing the “secure the building” at the city schools about an hour after police surrounded the schools.
“It is true that as we were working with the police department to gather the most accurate information, students were texting their parents ahead of us. Once we were clear on what the threat was, we informed our staff and parents at all four schools,” said Radford.
Manassas police said it effectively coordinated with the school division to keep children safe.
“The decision to place Osbourn High School and surrounding schools on secure building status was based on a collaboration between the City of Manassas Police Department and Manassas City Public Schools. The decision was based on developments to our incident. The…police department’s communication strategy was timely, effective, and well-received by citizens,” said Sgt. Brett Stumpf.
The school division also uses a telephone and email communication system and social media to communicate with parents.
Later that afternoon, administrators lifted the “secure building” status, and students went home. No one was injured.
Every situation is different, but keeping our students and staff safe is always the highest priority on our list,” added Radford. Police in Prince William County assisted administrators at Unity Reed during dismissal.
On security in the school division, PLN was the first to report that the city will install new security metal-detecting scanners at the entrances of Osbourn High School. The school division is the first in the region to install the new devices.
Prince William County Public Schools are also considering installing the devices at schools within its jurisdiction.
More than 7,000 children attend Manassas City Public Schools.
