Student arrested in connection with social media threat involving Woodstock North High School

A Woodstock North High School student was arrested Wednesday in connection to a social media threat involving the school, police said.

The threat regarding Woodstock North High School was just one of several involving Woodstock School District 200 schools reported over the past few days, Woodstock police said.

Threats also were made to Creekside and Northwood middle schools that were deemed not to be credible, police said in a Facebook post Thursday, and the Woodstock Police Department and District 200 administration are looking into a threat that was written on a bathroom stall at Woodstock High School.

Woodstock Deputy Chief Ray Lanz said to his knowledge, these had been the only threats that have been made to District 200 schools as of Thursday.

He referred specific questions about what happened during these incidents to the school district. Attempts to reach Woodstock District 200 officials Thursday were not successful.

Woodstock Police Chief John Lieb declined to say whether the student was charged or what with, saying that all the police were prepared to release was in the Facebook post.

Extra police presence at the schools will continue at this time, police said. Both high schools also have full-time school resource officers assigned to them.

The increased police presence would likely continue until the investigation has been completed, Lanz said.

“You should not be worried about sending your children to school,” Woodstock police said on Facebook. “Many of our officers have students who attend [District 200] schools. We take threats to our schools personally, just as you do. We will always do everything within our legal authority to catch those responsible for making these threats and holding them accountable.”

Crystal Lake Central High School on Wednesday also dealt with an incident that required it to go into a soft lockdown, meaning students could go from class to class but were not allowed to leave the building unless a parent came to pick them up, Community High School District 155 spokesperson Shannon Podzimek said in an email.

The soft lockdown started about 8:45 a.m. and ended about 9 a.m. while the school resource officer investigated the incident. Podzimek did not respond to questions about what the incident entailed.