Loveland parents hear school district explanation about confusion after false threat

Thompson School District officials along with Loveland's police chief met with parents at Loveland High School Thursday night to talk about a confusing situation at the school after a false threat on March 29. The threat was received by Safe 2 Tell early on the morning before school and quickly deemed not credible. It was during a time when multiple schools in Loveland and in Colorado were getting fake threats.

But students showed up for school, which started after 9 a.m. that day, to be greeted with confusion.

"We didn't know that it was not an actual threat at that time and I've heard that neither did the teachers," said freshman Vanessa Banks.

In her classroom, the teacher talked about what to do if there was an attack.

"It was just kind of really stressed out. Everyone was and out teacher went over what he was going to do if anything did happen with us."

Other classrooms were closed, with some teachers going home before the school day started. Some students wandered the hallways, then went outside. One parent at the meeting described finding her son hiding beneath a parked car in the parking lot.

District administrators placed Principal Michael James on leave during an investigation, but James was back at work Monday. During the meeting he explained to the crowd he had talked to teachers about the threat before school, but apparently they did not understand his message.

"That's my number one mistake is not stopping right there recognizing there was confusion, I didn't see it." 

James said he did not talk about the threat until toward the end of the meeting with teachers.

"I left it at the end because it was not credible. But I didn't take the time to really look at and assess my staff before we left that room to see if there was confusion."

CBS Colorado asked district spokesperson Mike Hausmann if James could elaborate about that message and the teachers' response after the meeting but both left without answering the request. About two hours after the non-credible threat was received, school was canceled for the day and students sent home.

District administrators did not blame teachers, but did not explain to parents at the meeting whether an investigation had determined fault for the mix-up. Some parents have expressed anger that students were left without teachers. But after the meeting some felt they had gained a better understanding of what had occurred.

"I think we're all human. I was very frustrated to hear that teachers would have left and left their students," said parent Christine Busch. "I think I got some more context today about how that wasn't quite what happened, they did leave before the school day."