Fort High shut down due to further threats

Fort Frances High School will be closed on Thursday and possibly on Friday due to another threat toward the school.

The Rainy River District School Board informed parents of the closure by an email issued late Wednesday afternoon and later posted on its social media pages.

It says the OPP received information suggesting further threats.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we will be closing Fort Frances High School, including the Gr. 7/8 program, for Thursday and possibly Friday to provide time for the police to investigate the threat,” states the email forwarded to Acadia Broadcasting.

The board says students will be able to access their schoolwork through the Google Classroom platform on Thursday.

“Should we need to extend the closure of the school beyond Thursday, the school will begin to move classes online.”

A similar threat last Sunday led to police identifying a youth suspect, and classes were allowed to resume on Monday following the holiday break.

Some parents were critical of the school board for not notifying parents earlier about that incident.

Several schools across northwestern Ontario and Minnesota have been targets of threats in recent weeks.

Some of those incidents led to charges.