Posted at 5:00 am
Mayssa Ferah La Press
Another unusual day for students at the Ecole de la Magdeleine, which has been the subject of gun threats on social media since the beginning of the summer, at least 80 teachers refused to teach on Wednesday morning. They are demanding more transparency and a clear plan from management to reassure students and manage police interventions.
In June, the La Prairie High School was evacuated twice in three days due to threats spread on social media.
The scenario repeated itself last Thursday and Tuesday. “That’s four times. Each time we are told that everything has been resolved and that the threat is unfounded. We’re just wondering when the next time is,” complains an employee who asked for anonymity.
Threats on social networks are the reason for these repeated police interventions, which are the subject of an investigation. So far nobody has been arrested.
“We will shoot you all”, “We will organize a school shooting”: This is what the students interviewed by La Presse on Wednesday morning reported in the comments of a mysterious Instagram account that bore the name Magdeleine School.
The site was deleted on Tuesday, according to police. The administrator, a student at the facility who was arrested by police during the day, would not be the person who made the threats.
The students interviewed by La Presse speak of a conflict between two groups of students. “Students have been arguing about racial slurs for quite some time. A kind of war really ensued,” says one student.
Locked in the classroom
Students and teachers interviewed by La Presse say students and teachers were locked in classrooms for five hours last Thursday. The school was evacuated, but the students came out “stressed and anxious,” said a teacher, who asked not to be known because he was not allowed to speak to the media. Everything was disorganized and chaotic, he says. “The students had to urinate in the bins because we couldn’t get out. The students were really shocked by this. »
On Wednesday morning, shortly before classes started, 80 teachers declared their refusal to work. Administrative staff were brought in to help run the classes.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
The police evacuated the Magdeleine school last Thursday.
“The threat has been completely lifted. We would not allow a return to normal if there was still a risk,” said Kathlyn Morel, director general of the Center de services scolaire des
Grandes Seigneuries (CSSDGS).
Ms Morel alleges that she provided staff with information that could be shared without undermining the ongoing investigation. “In an emergency, transmission is limited. The police asks us not to give out all the information. »
parrynot worriedis
“Well, again,” said the mother of two students, who was there on Wednesday morning to drop off her two daughters, with a sigh. While she doesn’t believe the threats are true, she hopes to have more information on the person arrested by police last week in connection with the evacuation.
“Even if it’s wrong, there must be consequences and we must be made aware of that. I want students to be informed and to know that this is not acceptable so that it stops once and for all. »
“When young people commit crimes with such great consequences, the situation is over,” explains the director, without wanting to comment on a specific case.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Pupils in front of the Magdeleine School
“We are many stunned parents. We want our children to be safe,” says the father of a boy who attends the school. He asked for anonymity so as not to get in trouble with management.
As he waits for a possible arrest, he hopes the school will take the threat seriously. We hear several stories in the news about young people with guns, rivalries between schools and tensions between groups of teenagers, he points out.
What I find unfortunate is young people being locked in a classroom for five hours and then being told everything is fine without knowing if there have been any arrests or if it was serious.
Father of a Magdeleine School student who asked for anonymity
The father of another teenager who attends the school goes even further, claiming that security measures in the schools are inadequate. “In a climate like this, we should at least search students’ bags. There were four threats. »
“Right now, we believe these threats are not related to any conflict at all. To this day we don’t even know if it was someone from the school who made the statements public,” Kathlyn Morel said.
The school management had planned a meeting between the students and the police this week to explain the problems and the consequences of such threats to the young people.
The director emphasizes that additional efforts are being made to sensitize young people to conflicts in social networks. “If you use social media, it can get out of control. We have to sensitize our young people to this. »