False cougar report keys lockdown

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Schools in Mountain Home went into temporary lockdown last Friday morning after a parent had called Hacker Middle School and reported seeing a cougar in town.

The report was erroneous, but it took about 90 minutes to determine that, during which time some students essentially were unable to attend recess.

Supt. of Schools Tim McMurtrey said the lockdown occurred between roughly 10-11:30 a.m. and, he added, the report "didn't go through police," but was handled by the city's animal control personnel.

"Maybe the superintendent and the new principal at Hacker overreacted just a tad," admitted McMurtrey, who ordered the lockdown, "but it did give us a chance to practice our emergency management plan."

McMurtrey described the district's measures as "soft lockdown," in which essentially students simply weren't allowed out of the building to attend recess. It also limited travel between buildings at Hacker, he said.

Comments
View 1 comment
Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. Please note that those who post comments on this website may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.
  • I think that they did over react. Was it even true that there was a cougar in town?

    I dont know about my principal.

    I never really liked her.

    But whatever. She was being safe so it doesnt matter

    -- Posted by kennabear11 on Mon, May 18, 2009, at 6:05 PM
Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: