Southwest High School To Resume Class Thursday

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Classes will resume Thursday at Southwest High School after the Minneapolis high school closed Wednesday due to a "credible threat."

School officials said they received a bomb threat late Tuesday night.

The school's principal, Bill Smith, sent an urgent message to families around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.

"This is an urgent message for families of Southwest. School will be closed tomorrow, Jan. 28, for students at Southwest because we received a credible threat to the school community," Smith said in the message.

To ensure the safety of staff and students, they canceled classes so the building could be inspected.

The school called in the Minneapolis Police Department to walk through the building Wednesday morning and check for any unsafe materials.

The police said in a Facebook post that their response to the threat was standard procedure.

"Whenever a request comes in (from throughout the metro area) our Department is ready to respond with our bomb team and K9 unit, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our services were requested for Wednesday morning at Southwest High School, and as such, MPD teams provided its standard response based on the request," police said in the Facebook post.

According to the school, the police did not find anything.

School officials apologized to families for any inconvenience, but said safety was their top priority.

"We know [Wednesday's] closure may have posed an inconvenience to some families, however we make decisions with the safety and security of our students and families in mind," MPS communications officer Stan Alleyne said.

Wednesday's closure affects all Southwest High School events, including Community Education classes, athletics and extracurricular activities.

All other Minneapolis Public Schools are open.

Classes will resume at Southwest High School on Thursday.