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Students witnessing a young man threatening another young man with a pocketknife at the Vikings football Homecoming game quickly diffused the situation and alerted a faculty member about what had happened.
The knife in question was given to the offender by a friend. Neither of the two middle school students attend I.S.D. 166.
No one was hurt but the school wasted little time informing parents and guardians through email about the incident that happened October 13. Here is the email the school sent to parents and guardians.
Cook County Families:
Happy Friday of homecoming week in Cook County! School spirit is definitely alive and well in the halls of the school this week, and we continue to encourage our students to have fun celebrating all that makes this a great community to be a part of. We are reaching out today with a brief update regarding an incident that took place on Thursday evening at the homecoming football game in hopes that our community will rally together to ensure this is a safe and caring place for each and every single child.
Last night a young student showed up at the football game in possession of a pocketknife. The knife was passed along to a second student that was bothered by the behavior of a third student. The pocketknife was used to threaten the third student. Students witnessing the incident responded extremely well, diffused the situation, and alerted a staff member. The pocketknife was apprehended, parents and law enforcement were quickly informed, and the situation was addressed promptly. We are fortunate to have students, staff, and law enforcement personnel that handled this situation quickly with excellent decision making. Due to their response nobody was hurt in the incident.
This incident sheds light on the need for all of us to be aware of where our children are and to share collective responsibility for supervising them closely. Some districts in MN have had to start keeping outside visitors out of games this fall and enforce having students sit next to their parents when in attendance. We don’t want to make those shifts here in Cook County as we value the wonderful sense of community that a home game, meet, or show can create. Ensuring our students are making good decisions, staying safe, and celebrating community in positive ways requires alertness and continual engagement from loving and caring adults. The staff of Cook County Schools is most certainly committed to this and hopes everyone can join us in ensuring that every single student knows and feels they are safe and cared for. Please communicate with school staff members proactively if you have any concerns about a student or a situation. We continue to work both proactively and reactively to maintain a safe, supportive and collaborative school environment. Thank you for continuing to make Cook County a wonderful place to live, work, learn and play. Go Vikings!
The email was signed by Superintendent Chris Lindholm. As ongoing training for potential emergencies, the school ran a training drill for all students and staff on Monday, October 24.
“The drill went very well, and students were very well behaved. Several staff commented that they appreciated the opportunity to practice and to walk the students through how it would work,” said Lindholm.
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