On the afternoon of Thursday, Feb. 9, all Bend-La Pine high schools went on secure — a form of preventive response to external danger — for an hour after the Bend Police Department received  a mysterious phone call, claiming there was someone on the Bend Senior High School campus with weapons who was going to enter the school. The police responded to the scene within three minutes and sent extra officers to all of the high schools in the district as well as Bear Creek Elementary. Police thoroughly searched Bend High on foot and with aerial systems and found no weapons or suspicious activity. They did come across an unattended bag, however they deemed it harmless after further investigation. The secure was in place for an hour longer at Bend High than the other high schools for the BPD to conduct the investigations. Later the BPD announced that they believed the anonymous caller was calling from out of the country but no other information has been revealed yet.

“It was actually very petrifying seeing all those cop cars speed past me in the direction of my school. My worst thoughts came true as I was pulling up to the school and all my peers were leaving campus in a rush. I was just very thankful to later learn that it was only a threat, and that everyone was ok,” said Sadie Hollingsworth, a senior at Bend High. 

Due to concerns about the students’ safety this past school year, Bend-La Pine School District has implemented new rules such as locking classroom doors while classes are in session and ensuring students have their hallpasses on hand when they leave the classroom at all times. Despite  these precautions, students still feel unsafe.

“It [lack of gun control] effects every student intimately whether they acknowledge it or not, it’s always a looming presence over your head that literally any day someone could walk into school and kill people… the politicians care more about being elected and voted in than they do actual safety, children and peoples lives, it’s not just a school safety issue,” said Reagan Tripp, a senior at Summit.

Increased police activity at Summit persisted on Friday, serving as another reminder of Thursday’s event that only heightens the existing presence of danger in schools.