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After precautionary lockdown, CPS reports students and staff safe

Jason Rojas
/
Flickr

The Columbia Public School District placed all district schools on what it calls a “modified lockdown” on Tuesday while law enforcement officials were engaged in a vehicle pursuit. 

A police department statement says the driver was wanted on felony warrants, and had previously eluded police. The pursuit up Highway 63 north was considered a possible threat in close proximity to district schools. 

District spokesperson Michelle Baumstark says as a precaution first Parkade and Derby Ridge elementary schools were placed on lockdown. Baumstark says as more information came in from the Columbia Police Department, officials put a lockdown on all CPS district school buildings. 

Baumstark says while safety issues are in mind right now, the lockdown was not the result of a heightened security and represented normal procedures.

"As we get information we have to make decisions about what’s going to be in the best interest and what’s going to keep our students safe, and we’re going to do whatever it takes to make that happen. And in this case it was the best measure to place all of our schools on lockdown," said Baumstark.

While a modified lockdown is in place, no one is allowed to enter or leave the building, but classes can proceed. 

Baumstark says the lockdown was a precautionary measure and that all students and staff remained safe throughout the lockdown period.

Janet Saidi is a producer and professor at KBIA and the Missouri School of Journalism.
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