Port St. Joe High School lockdown ends after threat is cleared
As a result of potential safety concerns, Port St. Joe High School entered a code yellow on Friday morning.
As a result of rumors spread on social media, the school entered a code red lockdown for approximately four minutes, according to Jim Norton, Gulf District Schools’ superintendent.
Norton confirmed that at this time, the threat has been handled, and students have returned to instruction as normal.
“Please know that the safety of our students is and always will be our first priority,” a release from the school read. “While there has been some tension between certain groups of students, which is being actively addressed, rumors and social media have misrepresented the situation and complicated our efforts to control it.”
“There is currently no cause for alarm… However, if at any moment that status changes, parents will be informed immediately and factually,” it continued. “We can confirm the safety of all students and staff on campus at this time.”
Law enforcement vehicles were present at the school.
This report will be updated as more information becomes available.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.