By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
OTSEGO—A potential safety threat led Otsego High School officials to cancel its Saturday, Sept. 19, homecoming dance less than two hours before the event was scheduled to begin.
The following day, Otsego Public Schools Superintendent Christie Robinson pro-vided additional information, saying the threat was targeted rather than directed at the student body as a whole.
“The individuals impacted by this have been notified,” Robinson said in an email to families Sunday, Sept. 20.
Robinson also said the Otsego Police Department had worked with high school administrators to investigate the source of the threat and ensure the campus was secure.
Police found no safety concerns on campus, according to Robinson.
Otsego Public Schools opened as scheduled Mon-day, Sept. 21, with an in-creased police and administrative presence planned at the high school throughout the week. That included parking lot sweeps and evening monitoring.
The situation began Saturday afternoon when OHS administrators learned of what Principal Jennifer Courtney described as a “potential safety threat” involving that night’s homecoming dance.
Courtney notified families of the cancellation in an email shortly after 5 p.m. The dance had been scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
“All students and staff are safe, however, in an abun-dance of caution, the deci-sion was made to cancel tonight’s homecoming dance, with the hopes to reschedule shortly,” Courtney said in the email.
Courtney said school administrators immediately began working with the Otsego Police Department after learning of the potential threat and took additional protective measures for students.
No information regarding the specific nature of the threat or the individuals in-volved had been released as of Sunday.
Robinson said the district was limited in what it could make public while the investigation continued.
“We also appreciate your understanding that this is an ongoing investigation,” she said. “We are limited in what we are able to share with our community to protect the integrity of that investigation.”
Courtney acknowledged the disappointment caused by canceling an event for which students and families had spent considerable time preparing.
“We recognize the im-mense amount of time, effort, and investment that goes into preparing for this event,” she said. “Canceling was a deeply challenging decision, however, the safety and security of students, staff, and our community must always come first.”
In Sunday’s update, Robin-son thanked the community for its response to the cancel-lation.
“Our parent community modeled positivity and resil-ience for our high school students who were affected, helping them make the best of a very challenging situa-tion,” she said.
The district also planned to have the high school’s social worker, counselors and other staff available throughout the week for students who wanted to talk or needed additional support following the incident.
Meanwhile, school offi-cials have rescheduled the homecoming dance for Sat-urday, Oct. 24.
The district had been con-sidering several potential dates while taking weekend schedules of OHS student groups into account.
Both Courtney and Robin-son also asked families to rely on official school or district communications for information rather than shar-ing rumors or unconfirmed information on social media.
The Otsego Police Depart-ment and district administra-tion continued to investigate the incident.
