Concord High School was placed in lockdown for about 20 minutes Thursday morning after students spotted a young person in the building who they believed to be a former student.
Just a few minutes after the 7:45 a.m. start to the school day, a student reported that a former CHS student was in the building, referring to him by a nickname, Superintendent Tim Herbert said.
The young man is a current member of the school’s adult diploma program, but Thursday is not one of the days in which he has class. Because a nickname was given, according to Herbert, staff didn’t recognize that they knew him. The school told parents that a lockdown was pursued out of an abundance of caution.
“I know the student very well,” Herbert told the Monitor. If he had been identified by his full name, “we would not have gone into the lockdown. We would have just located him, probably paged him and called him to the front office.”
The school was first placed on a “clear hallways” status – where instruction continues as normal, but everyone is secured in rooms – then proceeded to a full lockdown, where staff used school cameras to try to locate the thought-to-be-unknown person.
A description of who they were looking for was shared with teachers, and one let the administration know that he was in their room.
The student was entirely cooperative, Herbert said.
“He was very sorry he was the person who caused that,” Herbert said, “and was absolutely understanding that it wasn’t his day to be there.”
The young man told administrators he came to walk his girlfriend to class, and while he was there, saw a teacher he knew and stopped to chat. He was still there when the “clear hallways” status was implemented and stayed put, according to Herbert.
Administrators explained that it wasn’t appropriate for him to be on campus on a day that he didn’t have class, Herbert said, and he understood and left without incident.
The school returned to a normal status at 8:11 a.m.
