Troy schools probe reason for another false active shooter alarm

The school day proceeded as normal at Hook Elementary School, which is in the neighborhood north of Main Street and east of Dorset Road, near the Hobart Institute of Welding Technology.

The news comes five months after a much more serious incident, when false active shooter alerts were activated over the Troy High School PA system twice in the same day, sending panicked students running from the building and into surrounding streets.

In the September case, district officials said a substitute teacher triggered the school’s emergency alert system via designated keystrokes on a classroom keyboard. The emergency system allows school officials to know exactly where the alert came from.

In Monday’s instance, Troy schools Superintendent Chris Piper said school officials know which room the alert came from, but that “the person in that classroom said they did not use the appropriate keystrokes to set off the alarm. So we are trying to figure out if that is in fact the case or the overall system malfunctioned.”

District officials said the only changes made to the schools’ security system after the September event were that the keystrokes necessary to trigger the alarm were changed.

“There were safeguards put in place in an attempt to make sure what happened at the high school did not happen again,” Piper said. “Obviously those safeguards fell short, and we are investigating how and why at this point in time.”

Piper said student safety remains the district’s top concern, and that leaders take that responsibility seriously.

“We apologize to our staff members, our students and their families this happened,” Piper said. “We are incredibly thankful to the Troy Police Department for their quick response and ensuring the building was safe for students before they started arriving for the start of school. We’d also like to thank our staff members for their continued professionalism and dedication.”

School district officials suggested that anyone with questions should feel free to contact either Hook Elementary School or the Troy Board of Education.