Sheriff, H-BC respond to student threat

The Hills-Beaver Creek School District was on alert Friday after learning that a secondary student on social media Thursday night made a threat to “shoot up the school.”
Superintendent Todd Holthaus sent a message to district parents Friday morning informing them of the threat.
“This threat has been taken with all seriousness,” he wrote in the message to parents. “As a school, our students’ safety is our No. 1 priority.”
He said classroom teachers spoke to students and, if needed, reassured students and answered their questions.
The Rock County Sheriff’s office was notified and enacted safety measures for the day’s events. For example, Sheriff Evan Verbrugge and a deputy were in Hills at the school when classes started in the morning.
Also, he said two deputies located the student who made the threat and visited with the child and the parents Thursday night.
According to Verbrugge, there haven’t been law enforcement issues with the student in the past, and the school is following its policy on responding to threats. In this case the student has been suspended for a number of days.
In the district school buildings, extra precautions were taken to lock all exterior doors except the main entrances, which were monitored.
It was homecoming week in H-BC Schools, and Holthaus said staff and students were aware of the threat but carried on with the school day as usual.
He also clarified that the district was never under lockdown. “We will continue with Homecoming activities as scheduled,” Holthaus said Friday.