Petoskey High School sees extra police presence Friday following written threat

PETOSKEY — Following a tip reported via the OK2SAY hotline on Thursday, there was extra police presence visible at Petoskey High School for Friday’s classes.

Chris Parker, superintendent for the Public Schools of Petoskey, said classes took place as usual after school officials received the all-clear from local law enforcement.

“We’re having school today,” Parker said Friday. “Some kid wrote a general threat on a bathroom stall. We found out about it last night and worked with law enforcement, investigated it and got the all clear to run school open today. So we’re taking care of business today.”

The threat was made just days following a deadly shooting at Oxford High School in Oakland County that resulted in the deaths of four students. Several copycat-type threats have been reported at schools around the state in the following days.

“We had our school liaison officer here all day and (Petoskey Department of Public Safety Director Matthew) Breed started the day here with us,” Parker said. “They’ve had a little extra presence to make sure that the kids that were here felt safe. But no issues.”

Parker commended the students who used the state’s OK2SAY hotline to report the written threat. According to Michigan's state website, anyone can report tips confidentially on criminal activities or potential harm directed at students, school employees, or schools using the hotline. Tips can be submitted 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To access more information about the program and an option for submitting tips, see www.michigan.gov/ok2say/

“We also need parents, like if they’re hearing stuff, we know we continue to need them to help out as well by reporting any concerning online, electronic activity of their kids or their kids’ friends to the proper authorities,” Parker said. “We all have to be in this together to keep each other safe and to keep our school a safe learning environment for everyone.”