A Montreal West Island High School Cancelled All Classes For 'Security Reasons'
Macdonald High School told students to stay home. The specific security concern is still unclear.
Macdonald High School in the summer of 2022.
Macdonald High School closed unexpectedly on Thursday, March 23, due to "security reasons," as shared in a Facebook post early Thursday morning. "At around eight o'clock this morning, an online threat was posted involving Macdonald High School," Lester B. Pearson School Board Communications Director Darren Becker told MTL Blog over the phone.
The school, located in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue in the West Island, cancelled all classes for the day and informed parents that students would be "returned home by bus."
Thursday had already been scheduled for a late start, Becker said, so "the fact that the threat was discovered so early" means that students "were never actually at the school" and not at risk.
Becker couldn't reveal the specific security issues that led to the closure, nor the particular online platform on which the threat was made. Once police arrived on Thursday morning, Becker said, the apparent threat was determined to be "unfounded."
He added that the school expects students to return to classes as normal on Friday, March 24.
The school promised to reveal further details "as events warrant" but has yet to make any more public statements since the Facebook post just after 9 a.m. Thursday morning.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.