The following is a joint statement from the Mount Vernon Community School District, the Lisbon Community School District, and the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Police Department:
Today (Wednesday, Jan. 18) several law enforcement agencies and school districts across Eastern Iowa became targets of “Swatting calls” that falsely reported an alleged active threat scenario at various schools. A “swatting call” refers to a false claim intended to trigger an immediate and widespread emergency service response to a specific location. The hoax calls often involve reports of serious violent attacks, such as bomb threats, shootings, or hostage situations.
While Mount Vernon and Lisbon schools were not impacted by the swatting calls this afternoon, the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Police Department, the Mount Vernon Community School District, and the Lisbon Community School District continued to monitor the situation and maintained frequent communication to assess the impact to our community and to ensure that our students and staff were safe. Once notified, all administrators were contacted.
Iowa law enforcement quickly worked together to respond to the threats made and are partnering with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate and identify the caller.
Our school districts and emergency service work in a collaborative manner to ensure that school safety plans are current, staff is trained and prepared to respond if needed, and emergency responders and school staff are prepared to manage and mitigate situations as occurred yesterday. We remain committed to ensuring a safe learning environment for our staff and students.
The Safety of our schools is the responsibility of everyone. Anyone can now access a new school safety app called “Safe+Sound Iowa”. The app was made available to all public school districts and accredited non-public schools today. Parents, students, and community members can anonymously report any tips to law enforcement through dps.iowa.gov/SafeandSoundIowa, downloading the free Safe+Sound Iowa app, or by calling 800-224-6018.
We know that these can feel like uncertain times, and although no one locally was impacted in this serious prank, this serves as a good reminder about the important conversations with our youth about the power of their words and actions; and how we must continuously encourage them to make positive choices and contributions to our school community.
Sincerely,
Greg Batenhorst, MVCSD Superintendent
Autumn Pino, Lisbon CSD Superintendent
Doug Shannon, MVL Chief of Police