AUGUSTA — The Augusta Public Schools closed for a “lock-in” for half an hour Friday afternoon because of a social media threat unrelated to the nationwide trend of TikTok threats.
Superintendent James Anastasio said Friday afternoon a student brought the threat to school administrator’s attention, but Anastasio could not provide additional details of what the threat said since it is an ongoing investigation.
The lock-in, meaning no one could go in or out of the building, ended at 1:15 p.m., and operations went back to normal. Parents received an automated call altering them to the lock-in.
The threat did not specify which Augusta school, so out of an abundance of caution, every school took the precaution, Anastasio said. It was made around 12:30 p.m. on social media and police are currently looking into the matter to track down the threat.
The schools already had extra police officers on-site because of the TikTok threats across the state.
“It wasn’t related to the TikTok event,” Anastasio said Friday afternoon. “We didn’t think it (the threat Friday) was a credible threat, although we did increase police presence over the abundance of caution.”
Asked if parents should be concerned about the threat, Anastasio said “no more than they should worry all the time,” but the situation has been taken care of as of Friday afternoon.
“With the events of the day, we don’t believe anything through social media in general, not specific to the school, is credible, but we consider each one and do what we need to do to make it safe and a safe situation,” he said.
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