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Update: Urbana High School placed under “soft” lockdown after threats

Police cars are parked outside Urbana High School on Feb. 13, 2023.

Updated at 12:00 p.m.

URBANA – Urbana High School is now under a “soft” lockdown after Urbana Police and administrators secured the building, according to the Urbana School District 116 Facebook page. Students are allowed to move about within the building as usual, but students who go outside may not come back in. 

Administrators at Urbana School District 116 placed the district’s high school under “hard” lockdown on Monday morning after receiving threats. Students are safe.

In an email to families, Dr. Jennifer Ivory-Tatum said the high school received threatening phone calls on Monday morning. 

“Officers are also present on the grounds and the threats were isolated to UHS,” said Ivory-Tatum in the statement. “Urbana Police will maintain a visible presence at or around Urbana schools for the entire school day.”

The statement also said UHS National African American Parent Involvement Day activities are canceled. 

Urbana High School was targeted for threats in November 2022, which led to class cancellations, lockdowns and e-learning days.

In late November, police arrested two 16-year-old girls in connection with those threats. One girl was arrested in Chicago and the other was an Urbana High School student. No one was physically injured during those incidents. 

Picture of Reginald Hardwick

Reginald Hardwick

Reginald Hardwick is the News & Public Affairs Director for the Illinois Newsroom. He started at WILL in October of 2019 after serving as News Director for WKAR in East Lansing, Michigan. Previously, he was a news producer and manager at the NBC station in Dallas, where he won 7 Emmy awards. Born in Vietnam, Reginald is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado. Email: rh14@illinois.edu Twitter: @RNewsWILL

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