In addition, the district placed the neighboring middle school and junior high school in a “secure status,” meaning the outside doors were locked while inside the school operated as normal.

“We are thankful for the swift response and support of the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Department and our campus and district police officers,” the news release said.

Increased police presence was to remain on campus Thursday and members of the district’s Counseling Response Team were sent to support staff and students who might need them.

“While the threat was determined to be a hoax, we understand that our staff and students have very real emotions as a result of their experience and we always want to take care of each other,” the district’s release said.

“Every threat, big or small, is taken seriously around this building. Security is a top priority for me for my students,” Principal Heather Patterson said. “We got in lockdown within three minutes. My staff responded amazingly. My security team, LCISD police, were in there within three minutes to make sure that we were safe and secured.”

Here’s Mrs. Patterson’s full letter to GRHS Stakeholders:

November 17, 2022

As part of our commitment to keep you informed, I want to provide an update regarding the Lockdown that occurred on our campus today.

This afternoon, Lamar CISD received information from Fort Bend Police Officials that they were en route to George Ranch High School in response to a potential threat that was called in.

As standard procedure, the campus immediately went into Lockdown. During Lockdown, all of the outside and inside doors to campus are locked.

In addition, our neighboring middle school and junior high school were placed in a Secure status. During Secure status, the outside doors are locked, but the campus continues to operate as normal on the inside.

Within 30 minutes, law enforcement officials on the scene determined that there was no active, credible threat. In addition, they were able to identify the source of the initial call(s) and determined that it came from three students-two of which are now in custody.

We are thankful for the swift response and support of the Fort Bend County Sherriff’s Department, and our campus and district police officers.

As a result of today’s disruption, we will have an increased police presence on campus today as well as members of the Counseling Response Team to support staff and students who may need it. While the threat was determined to be a hoax, we understand that our staff and students have very real emotions as a result of their experience and we always want to take care of each other.

I encourage you to take this opportunity to talk to your children about the consequences of making inappropriate comments on social media as well as making fictitious emergency phone calls. Any inappropriate post or call, even those made in jest, are always taken seriously by campus administration and law enforcement.

I want to emphasize, again, that the safety of our students and staff is always our first priority. We’re proud of the culture of safety that we’ve built at George Ranch High School and we’re committed to maintaining a safe school environment for all of our students.

Heather Patterson

–Story Courtesy of the Houston Chronicle and GRHS.