UPDATE
The lockdown of Plant City-area schools was lifted at about 10 a.m. this morning.
According to Stephen Hegarty, communications officer for Hillsborough County Public Schools, a modified lockdown was instituted at the beginning of the school day. The district had received notice from the Plant City Police Department regarding a tip of a possible threat at a Plant City school. The lockdown was lifted after the police department completed its investigation of the tip.
While on modified lockdown, the district increased security presence at the schools. However, the lockdown did not involve disruption of normal activities, such as class schedules and lunch periods.
The district allowed each school’s principal to decide whether to send a message to parents regarding the lockdown. The principals at Springhead and Lincoln Magnet elementary schools issued notices through the phone. Other schools did not.
Now that the lockdown has been lifted, Hegarty has sent a template message to each principal and urged them to communicate with parents.
ORIGINAL STORY
Schools in Plant City are on lockdown this morning.
“Due to a vague posting on social media sometime last night, we have placed the schools in the Plant City area on modified lockdown,” said Stephen Hegarty, communications officer for Hillsborough County Public Schools. “That means they have a normal schedule, lunch periods, etc. We anticipate having the modified lockdown lifted later this morning.”
Administration employees from Plant City High School declined to comment.
A Plant City-area teacher, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the posting came through a crime-tip website and mentioned a shooting at a Plant City school today.
Many Plant City-area parents have said they received no notification from the district regarding the lockdown. One parent said she received notice — but only after her child was on the school bus.
“I received a call well after my children were on the bus, after another parent found out from social media and alerted me,” said Katie Faulkner-Walker via Facebook. “Sometime after all that, (I did) receive a recorded voice message from my children school, Lincoln Magnet. When I went up there to pick my children up, there was an officer parked outside, the doors were locked, and faculty let me in. I asked them if this threat was known last night, and she assured me that if it had they would have known.”
A parent of a child at Springhead Elementary said she received an automated call at about 10 a.m. this morning.