Baker School District Superintendent Mark Witty speaks on yesterday’s Lock-Out, Baker PD issues release
By Shannon Weidemann (McKone) on Friday, May 27th, 2022 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
BAKER CITY – Yesterday, May 26, 2022, the Baker School District had a situation that involved an external threat of violence. According to Baker School District Superintendent Mark Witty, the school district immediately went into a district-wide lock-out. Meaning, that inside the schools, things continued as normal, but externally no one was allowed in or out of the buildings.
Baker School District was in communication with law enforcement and also communicated via the district’s social media platforms, to keep citizens current on the situation.
Law enforcement was able to dispatch officers to each of the district schools and do interviews. Within approximately 45 minutes to an hour, it was determined that the threat was non-credible. The lock-out was then lifted
“We want to err on the side of caution when we get those types of information from law enforcement, said Witty, we take them seriously from the standpoint that we need to do our protocols to make sure to keep staff and students safe. We went ahead and moved into those protocols, and it went reasonably well.”
Witty says that he encourages families not to come to the site in these instances as it only exacerbates the confusion and the chaos. “And in a lock-out situation, we are not letting people in or people out, that way we can keep our students and staff safe.” Witty notes that he understands how challenging it is to want to come down and get your student. But, it actually contributes to making the situation harder to manage.
Witty thanks everyone for their patience and is thankful that this was a non-credible threat, and that the district was able to move forward productively. Witty says “the systems are in place to keep students safe and keep staff safe, and the systems worked really well today.”
A debriefing is planned with law enforcement and the district’s admin team as well as other stakeholders to see what they can learn to make the systems even better.
Witty also mentioned that with the passage of the District Bond, there will be updates and upgrades to the district’s safety and security, such as, adding a vestibule at South Baker and Brooklyn.Parents of students who may experience social or emotional issues due to this situation can contact the child’s school counselor for help.
RELEASE FROM BAKER PD/NARCOTICS TEAM AFTER TODAY’S LOCK-OUT IN THE BAKER SCHOOL DISTRICT
On Wednesday May 25th,2022 the Baker City Police Department received a potential threat of a shooting at Baker High School involving a Baker High School student. That incident was investigated on the morning of the 26th by Baker City Police and found to be unsubstantiated. As a result of the above threat students from the Baker Middle School started sharing and posting messages regarding a school shooting in the works. This prompted the Baker 5J school district to go into a lockout which is standard protocol for such an incident. When this occurs, all schools lock the exterior doors, and no persons are allowed in or out. Law enforcement from Baker City PD, Baker County Sheriff’s Office and the Oregon State Police sent officers to all the schools in the district. Initially it appeared that the Middle School postings were referencing a new threat. After some investigation officers were able to determine that postings by middle school students referenced the first incident that had already been handled and found to be unsubstantiated. After that incident had concluded another and separate threat came into the school regarding a shooting at Baker Middle School. That incident was investigated by Baker City Police and a 12-year-old middle school student was identified as the source of the threat. That student was issued a citation for disorderly conduct in the 1st degree. There are no other immediate threats to the school. I want to publicly thank the Baker 5J School District, the Baker County Sheriff’s Office, and the Oregon State Police for acting quickly and working in coordination to resolve the incident
