MONTEREY, Calif. -- The Monterey Peninsula Unified School District said Colton, Monte Vista and Monterey High School are no longer on lockdown. All three Monterey schools went on lockdown Thursday afternoon, after reports that a group of men were spotted, holding two rifle-type guns nearby. Monte Vista Elementary, Walter Colton Middle and Monterey High School were all closed up, for over an hour.
Police said the men with guns, were never found. But some parents with kids at those three schools say they were left in the dark for too long and didn't know about the alleged threat until after the fact.
Some parents and students left some comments on our Facebook page saying the school district didn't make them aware of the apparent threat fast enough. Monterey High School student Nick Mascarello said "during the actual lock down myself and others were returning to class from an assembly with no idea of the situation."
"We just had to stay in the classroom, not open the door, don't let anyone in," said Monterey High School student Jessica How.
About 45 minutes before the end of the school day, hundreds of students like Jessica How went into lockdown mode. Police said an employee at Colton reported seeing a group of men walking around in the woods nearby with two rifle-type guns.
"That caused us to ask the school to "shelter in place", which essentially closes the schools. So all students and faculty stay on campus and no parents or anybody can come on campus, while our officers were able to search all the woods on all the perimeter of the school," said Monterey Police Department Lt. Leslie Sonne.
Cindy Goggia said the school district left her in the dark for too long.
"I got word after the fact, my daughter let me know by text that they were on lockdown close to 3pm," Goggia said.
The district said when a lockdown happens, parents automatically get a phone call to the number they have on record and because some use their land line, there may have been a delay. But Goggia said she ended up getting the call, at about 3:45pm.
"By automated dialing to my cell phone to tell me that there had been this credible threat and they had been on lockdown. But it was over with. So whatever was going on if something had been worse going on, then it was too late," Goggia said.
The school district wants parents to know, there's a smart phone app you can download to make things a little less confusing next time. It's called Parent Link and you can find it on your iPhone or Android.
