School bomb threat ‘miscommunication’ leads to partial lockdowns in Ontario town

A dispute between kids led to two schools being put on partial lockdowns after a bomb threat “miscommunication” in a small Ontario town, police say.

The incident happened on Thursday when the OPP says officers from the Leeds County detachment were called to Thousand Islands Elementary School in Lansdowne, a small town approximately 50 kilometres east of Kingston.

Officers with the Gananoque Police Service had been called to investigate what police are calling “a dispute” involving a number of youths.

One of the kids told officers that another youth had “indicated they were aware of a threat” targeting the school.

Police said on Friday that the incident was “a potential bomb.”

Both Thousand Islands Elementary and Gananoque Intermediate Secondary School were put under hold-and-secure orders while police investigated the possible threat, but investigators say there were no explosives.

But rather than a hoax, police say the threat was “unfounded” and “a miscommunication.”

No charges were laid when the hold-and-secure order was lifted but the OPP say it takes any threat to public safety seriously.

“Police want to remind everyone that words matter, and some words can have serious impacts,” police said of the incident.

Hold-and-secure orders are used as a precaution to protect students and staff from a potential incident in the area. They are less restrictive than a full lockdown while preventing any visitors from entering the school.