RBHS went into a modified lockdown today, Friday afternoon, in response to a threat made on the social media site Yik Yak, said Dr. Jennifer Rukstad, principal. The lockdown was lifted at 2:59 p.m.

“We’re under what we call a ‘modified lockdown’ right now and ‘modified’ basically means we can make the rules as it comes,” Rukstad said. “We have a very non-verified threat, and our response has been police security around the outside building. We do not believe the threat is credible, and if it were credible, we didn’t believe it was inside the building, so we’ve changed nothing about our classes.”

A letter was emailed to RBHS parents at 2:17 p.m., explaining the threat. The letter, signed by CPS superintendent Dr. Peter Stiepleman, called the rumors “terroristic” and explained that the person behind the post could be subject to severe punishments, including expulsion.

“We take the safety and security of our schools and students very seriously,” Stiepleman wrote. “We will not tolerate threats of any nature, especially when they cause disruption to the school day and result in countless hours of work to determine the validity and secure the safety of students and staff.”

Multiple police officers were called to the school soon after the lockdown started. They assisted administrators in guarding and watching the exterior doors.

“We asked the police department to help us out, and they’ve had a great job,” Rukstad said. “We feel like we are very well-surrounded right now, and at some point in the future, we will say that the threat is over, but right now, the kids are in classes and they’re learning and it’s a football game night.

She said the the lockdown began at about 1:25 p.m., and that police arrived by 1:40 p.m.

“The police are trying to track [the threat] at this time, trying to determine if there is a way to find out who did it,” Rukstad said. “Again, it was not credible, but it had enough specificity that we were able to kind of have a response of security because we don’t want to not take things seriously.”

Gentry Middle School, Rock Bridge Elementary and the Columbia Area Career Center also entered heightened security because of the threat. Rukstad said it has no connection to tonight’s Providence Bowl, the annual football rivalry game between the Bruins and Kewpies. Security will be high at the game tonight but not because of the threat.

Junior Evelyn Rodriguez, who does not use Yik Yak but knows many who do,  said the app has gotten out of hand.

“They used it in the wrong way, and it shouldn’t have been used like that,” Rodriguez said. “That’s a really dumb way to use it. They probably thought it was funny, because ‘oh, no one knows who I am and I’m going to post this.’ Really? And now you have the whole school on lockdown.”

She believes that after the lockdown students will stop using Yik Yak because of the potential consequences.

“[Students] know that this app is done with, so everyone is going to stop posting on it,” Rodriguez said.
“They should know that this can get you in trouble, and it’s not fun to do it, and it’s not funny.”

Rukstad said while Yik Yak and its potential for harm had just been brought to her attention, that if it continues to be a detriment to RBHS students, the students will be partially responsible for controlling it.

“If this goes beyond this day, we’re going to have to enlist the students’ help because this is beyond our ability to–we can’t really find you so we’re not going to be able to take care of this through enforcement, and I think it’s going to be a larger conversation among the students,”Rukstad said. “‘What are we, as a school community, willing to tolerate and accept?’ and if this is how we’re going to act with each other, whether or not our names are tied to it, we have to have that conversation, and I think the student voice is going to have a lot more say about this than any administrator.”

Photos by Devesh Kumar