Dear Valor Families,
Today (at 9:07am) was our third report in 8 days of the same 3 loud popping sounds coming from the apartment complex behind our buildings during the same time window (morning). We, along with all of you, want to remain vigilant to keep Valor as safe as possible, and so we initiated a soft lockout again and called MNPD in accordance with our emergency procedures out of an abundance of caution. As a reminder, soft lockouts are used when there is a safety concern in the surrounding area of our community, but there is no visible threat on our campuses, and instruction continues on as normal indoors. We did sweeps of the perimeters of all campuses immediately, and determined that there was no immediate threat on our campus.
MNPD swept the area and saw no evidence of any threat or damage, and cleared us out of lockout at 9:52am. Since this was the third time in 8 days, we spoke with a sergeant at our precinct who advised us that for all three incidents, any calls made about the sounds were from us here at Valor, and for each of the three times, officers saw no evidence of damage, no shell casings, and no reports of damage from neighbors.
At this point, we believe that based on the similarity of the three incidents (in sound, frequency, and time of day), it is likely a sound that is occurring due to a host of possibilities, including but not limited to a car backfiring, construction, garbage collection picking up dumpsters, or some other sounds. Of course we cannot be certain, so we will remain vigilant here, but we will be adjusting our response after consulting with our Midtown Hills precinct and MNPD’s School Safety Division.
Effective immediately, we are adjusting our lockout procedure for sounds reported in the morning from that specific area. If the same 3 pops are reported or heard by Valor staff or students, we will not immediately go into lockout, and instead first call MNPD to investigate. If MNPD does not see anything in their sweep, we will continue the day; if for any reason they have cause for concern, we will go into lockout or lockdown based on the situation.
Please be assured that we will continue to be vigilant on our campus security and emergency procedures. Please contact your campus principal if you have any questions.