Dear Shawsheen Students, Families, and Staff,

Thank you for your patience and cooperation with today's controlled dismissal. As I shared earlier today, this was one of the steps we took to ensure school safety after placing the building on a HOLD while we worked with the Billerica Police Department to investigate a threat of a school shooting that was found written in a student bathroom this morning. [Click here to view the message I sent earlier today].

Although this incident still remains under investigation, the threat has been deemed non-credible. Out of an abundance of caution, we conducted a search of the building, during which nothing was found; closed the building for the rest of the day; and cancelled all of today's after-school and evening activities.

Beginning tomorrow, Saturday, October 24, all scheduled school activities will resume, and we will have a normal school day on Monday, October 26. As an additional precaution, there will be an increased police presence at Shawsheen over the weekend and when students and staff return on Monday.

I am thankful to everyone in our school community for how they responded today, especially the students who saw the threat and immediately reported it. I also recognize how stressful and unsettling an incident like this can be for students, families, and staff. Any students who need additional support when they return on Monday can reach out to our Guidance Department.

We continue to work with the Billerica Police Department to identify the source of the threat. Threats of violence against a school are extremely serious and entirely unacceptable, regardless of whether they are ultimately determined to be credible or not.

Our students and staff deserve to feel safe at school, and their safety remains our highest priority. As we do following any significant school safety incident, we will debrief our response and make any appropriate adjustments.

Take care of yourselves and one another this weekend.

Sincerely,

Jessica Cook, Principal