BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- A threat written on a girl's bathroom wall at Golden Valley High School in South Bakersfield is under investigation by school police and administration.
The threat was found written on the wall before classes began Monday, according to Kern High School District spokesperson Lisa Krch.
Krch released this following statement:
“The priority is to secure the campus and make sure students and staff members are safe. Then, the administration at the school works with law enforcement to assess the credibility of each and every threat. Individual school sites notify parents by the following means: letters go home w/ students; parents receive an ‘all call’; social media; and/ or a text messaging system. Specifically in the Golden Valley case today, there will be an ‘all call’ to parents at 3 p.m. with the information, and there will probably be a tweet as well.”
The school wasn't placed on lockdown and classes were not impacted by the threat, Krch noted.
Some students at GVHS said they learned about the threat through social media.
"First I was like oh it’s fake, but then like knowing there has been like so much shootings and threats to like Horizon too, I thought oh maybe it may be real so we need to take precautions," said freshman student, Areisy Lopez.
But other students said they weren't as concerned about the written threat.
“I’m not too worried that it was a legitimate threat but you know there always are like suspicions that it will be," said senior student Ricky Martin.
Golden Valley HS will have increased police presence Monday and Tuesday.
During a conference, Police Chief Joseph Lopeteguy said that he doesn't believe the threat was credible but the case is still under investigation.
“We take these very, very serious. We handle them all the same, very, very serious and our approach is to discover who did it and make sure they get prosecuted for it," said Chief Lopeteguy.
Lopeteguy added that they don't know exactly when the threat was written.
Students were released at 1:30pm today, but school officials said that was scheduled before the threat occured.
Krch said that the district sent out automated phone calls to families at around 2:30 p.m. as well as posting information on social media.
GV is committed to safety. A threat was made and is being investigated. It does not appear credible, but extra security will be in place.
— Golden Valley High (@GVBulldogs) February 29, 2016
Please refer to the all call msg. for information concerning today's incident. Student safety is our first priority. Walk #BulldogSTRONG!
— Golden Valley High (@GVBulldogs) February 29, 2016
However, some parents such as Candy Martin, who was at work all day, said she didn't hear about the incident at all until she picked up her son.
“This is kind of scary to come to pick up your son and hear the news that something like this is going on it’s like oh my gosh. It’s very scary," said Candy Martin.
Some students said they were unsure about going back to school tomorrow, even though police believe it is not a credible threat. Candy Martin said she would leave it up to her son to decide if he wanted to go to school Tuesday.
“I don’t know I think if he feels safe and he feels like coming to school I mean I don’t have an option but let him go to school and see what’s going on," said Candy Martin.
