DELMAR – St. Thomas the Apostle School in Delmar issued a lock out after receiving a “distressing phone call” shortly before dismissal on Wednesday, Feb. 3.
What was initially called a “threat of violence” prompted officials to issue lock outs at two separate schools at approximately 2:30 p.m.
“Earlier this afternoon, St. Thomas the Apostle School in Delmar received a distressing phone call threatening violence just before dismissal,” said officials from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, in an email statement. “The administration immediately notified the Bethlehem Police Department. The school followed its safety plan and went into a lockout. Police advised the school to delay dismissal as they surveyed the scene.”
Several Bethlehem police patrol cars were parked outside St. Thomas the Apostle School on Adams Place while Bethlehem Central Middle School, less than a quarter-mile away, issued a lock out of its students.
The lock outs were released approximately an hour later. Bethlehem Central released a robocall alert to district families to warn of delays as bus routes running from the middle school to area elementary schools were impacted by the lock outs.
Students who normally walk home from the middle school were assigned to buses instead.
Bethlehem police will maintain a presence at St. Thomas tomorrow, said the diocese.
St. Thomas the Apostle is located less than a quarter-mile from Delmar’s Four Corners. The private, Catholic school enrolls approximately 234 students between kindergarten and eighth grade. Bethlehem Central Middle School has approximately 1,000 students enrolled between sixth and eighth grade.
