VOORHEESVILLE — District officials notified parents of a “lock-out” situation at the high school last Friday, but maintained the day’s routines and activities, according to Superintendent Teresa Thayer Snyder.

“We had a parent call with a threat from her daughter’s boyfriend in Long Island,” Snyder told The Enterprise. Because administrators did not know the whereabouts of the boy, or whether or not he could drive, the school instituted a lock-out, where all school doors are locked and people entering must be buzzed in with the security system at the front doors, Snyder said.

Snyder said that, during a typical school day, doors are also kept locked; students, however, may prop doors open for convenience without administrators’ knowledge.

“The best of all days, they’re locked,” she said.

Those entering the school on a normal day are buzzed through the front. Under a lock-out situation, she said, “We’re more discreet than that. We ask for more identification. It’s conscientious — magnified.”

Snyder was absent on Friday, and high school Principal Patrick Corrigan called her and then handled the lock-out and communications with local police enforcement officials, Snyder said.

By mid-afternoon, State Police had found and interviewed the boyfriend, who was at his home on Long Island, she said. Local police notified Voorheesville school district administrators, who canceled the lock-out, Snyder said.  

The last time Voorheesville initiated a lock-out was when the Amber alert was sent out in December for Berne kindergarten student Kenneth White; his cousin originally said he was kidnapped, but then she was arrested for murder after his body was found in a snowbank near their home.

The December lock-out incident was “just a precautionary measure,” Snyder said.
The lock-out situation last Friday allowed administrators to be “hyper-conscious of who’s coming in the front door,” Snyder said.