An Ernest Righetti High School student was arrested on the morning of April 2 for allegedly making a gun threat to Orcutt Academy High School.
The student posted pictures of two guns on Facebook, accompanied by a caption insinuating he would be bringing the guns to Orcutt Academy on Monday, April 3, according to Orcutt Union School District Superintendent Debbie Blow.
Blow said Orcutt Academy Principal Rhett Carter contacted the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office around 7 a.m. on Sunday, and within an hour, sheriff’s deputies had arrested the student in question. Carter then joined other Orcutt Academy staff at the high school, taking calls from concerned parents.
Meanwhile, the student who allegedly made the threat claimed it was an April Fool’s joke, Blow said.
“This is absolutely something that we take very seriously, particularly making posts on social media,” Blow said. “This is nothing to be joked about.”
The Sheriff’s Office later confirmed that the guns pictured in the Facebook post were fake.
Blow said the alleged threat didn’t affect student attendance at Orcutt Academy on Monday, and that everything was safe. She commended Carter and other Orcutt Academy staff for going to lengths to keep their students’ families in the loop.
“There’s not a lot of schools where they would come over and be taking phone calls on a Sunday,” Blow said. “Their responsiveness to the students in the community just reiterates the safety of our students and our staff is our No. 1 priority.”
This article appears in Apr 6-13, 2017.