School district minimizes panic at QHS following threat

Posted: 09.22.2011 at 12:04 PM

QUINCY, ILL. -- UPDATE: 5:54 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 22

There's a $200 reward available for information leading to the person responsible for leaving a threat in a Quincy High School bathroom. You can call CrimeStoppers at (217) 228-4474.

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Rumors have been flying amongst Quincy High School students and parents alike ... and it all began with a note scrawled on a restroom wall at QHS.

There is an obvious police presence at QHS Thursday and KHQA's Jim Robesky saw at least a dozen parent's picking up their children.

Quincy Superintendent Lonnie Lemon says that the threat was found late Wednesday afternoon in a bathroom. According to Lemon, the threat was in the form of graffiti, telling the school to put in more security measures. Once the note was found the school enacted its security plan and that security measures included bag searches on Thursday morning when students arrived at school.

An announcement was made Thursday morning to students and then the rumors began via social media and texting. That led to panic with some students and parents. That's why Lemon is alerting the media that QHS is taking security measures and is very confident about the situation.

We asked Lemon about the school district contacting the parents. Lemon said, "I understand the parents concerns, but the other side of the story is the last thing we want to do is have this situation happen everyday and not be able to continue our school year."

Lemon said the school district takes every threat seriously and that is exactly why security measures are in place.

Approximately 400 students left campus Thursday.

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