School shut down over ‘security risk’

Friday the 13th was a scary day for Northern Secondary School students.

Due to a possible security risk at the Mount Pleasant-area school, students were diverted to nearby North Toronto Collegiate Institute on the morning of May 13 while police searched the grounds, according to an alert on the Toronto school board website.

Classes were cancelled for the afternoon, according to the TDSB alert.

By 3 p.m., police gave the all-clear and staff returned to the school.

Officers had been called to the school at 6:05 a.m., police spokesperson Const. Caroline de Kloet said.

De Kloet said police would not specify the nature of the risk but an investigation was carried out into a “possible security issue.”

Investigators included police canine units, the Emergency Task Force, and members of the CBRN (Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear) team, she says.

The empty school was marked off with police tape and streets around the site were closed to traffic until mid-afternnon.