Just two weeks after a similar incident at Pioneer, Huron High School was forced to lock down for several hours on Friday, Dec. 9, due to a social media threat of violence that started circulating that morning.

“We were alerted by students of an Instagram post,” said Huron principal Che Carter in a statement released on the school’s website. “We are following up with [the] Ann Arbor Police Department and AAPS Administration. Out of an abundance of caution, AAPD are on site.”

The lockdown began at 9:52AM, when a public address announcement announced that the school was “in a hold” and that teachers must not release students. 

One teacher said that the phrase “in a hold” was not a routine term used in a lockdown situation. It is reported that it was unclear for some time whether or not the school was in a situation where students could leave classrooms. Only after an hour were students permitted to leave class to use the restroom in the company of a community assistant.

Huron administration and law enforcement officials eventually determined that the threat was non-credible. Carter warned of the dangers of making threats – and the importance of reporting them – in a statement released later Friday afternoon.

“It is important to share our appreciation for the students who alerted their teachers and principals of the posted threat,” read the statement. “We ask families to please partner with us, review the information below and have a conversation with your student.”

Officials decided that parents could collect their students in-person and that they could only be released one at a time. According to a video obtained by the Pioneer Optimist, parents were forced to wait in a single file line which stretched from the building’s front office and into the parking lot, so parents could show their ID to collect their children

“Thank you Huron families for your patience as we released students today during the voluntary parent pick-up,” continued the statement. “We know that it may have been frustrating to have to wait for your student, but during this process our responsibility is to ensure all students are safe and accounted for.”