The Manistique Area Public Schools were closed on Friday because of what was described as a “school safety issue”. Thursday night’s activities in the district were also called off.
On Friday afternoon, the Manistique Public Safety Department provided an update.
The department says that a suspicious social media profile possibly liked to Manistique Middle and High School raised concerns that there could be violence at the school. Public Safety Acting Director Timothy Russell says they investigated, with all of their resources utilized, to get to the bottom of it.
In the end, Russell says the investigation “proved that at no time was there any real or perceived threat to any staff or student in the Manistique Area Schools”. The press release added that this was all because of the “negligent use of technology and social media venues”, and everyone should be vigilant when monitoring young people’s social media activities.
Earlier on Friday, the Manistique Area Schools also put out a statement, saying that the situation has been vetted and the source of the perceived threat has been identified. The district says it will “move on and grow” from this incident, which was blamed on the “irresponsible use of technology”.
The plan is to be back in school as scheduled on Monday. It will be a half-day of school for students, with teachers using the other half for professional development.
The press releases from Manistique Public Safety, and the Manistique Area Schools, are posted below.
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