By Bryan Manabat
[email protected]
Variety News Staff
SAIPAN Southern High School was declared safe Wednesday morning after a student was taken into custody for allegedly issuing a written threat, according to the Department of Public Safety.
DPS said the student wrote a threatening note and handed it to a teacher on April 7. The incident was reported to the school principal the following morning, prompting immediate coordination with law enforcement.
Officers responded to the campus and detained the minor without incident. No weapons were found on the student at the time of the arrest.
DPS officers and the CPA K‑9 Unit conducted a full sweep of the school grounds as a precaution and reported finding no weapons or additional threats. The campus was officially cleared at 10:27 a.m.
Earlier in the morning, the Public School System placed SSHS on lockdown while the threat was assessed.
Following DPS’s all-clear, PSS confirmed that a comprehensive sweep found the campus safe for normal operations to resume.
“Classes will resume for the remainder of the school day, and school personnel will continue to supervise and support students as needed,” PSS said in a statement.
“All students and staff remain safe. We thank the community for their patience and cooperation. The safety and well-being of our school remains our highest priority,” the agency added.
DPS said additional information will be released as it becomes available.
Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
