Police say Santa Cruz High School students are safe to return

On Wednesday night, Santa Cruz Police and the Santa Cruz City School District said its safe for students to return to Santa Cruz High School on Thursday. This comes after police said a credible and violent threat was made against the entire staff and student body, canceling classes for the day. More information was given to parents at a community meeting held at the Kaiser Permanente Center in downtown Santa Cruz.

All parents within the school district are being told it’s safe for their kids to return to school. NewsChannel 5 is told extra officers will be on-hand for a while. But so far, little information is being released as to why officials feel it’s safe to have school.

“I will be sending my daughter to school tomorrow, and I feel they gave us as much information as they could tonight. I would have been happier if parents had got some if this information earlier in the day. But I understand the constraints they’re working under,” said Maria Gaura.

Hundreds of parents packed the Kaiser Permanente Center, where school administrators and Santa Cruz Police shared what they know and took questions from skeptical parents. Principal Karen Edmonds said at 8:23 p.m. Tuesday night, she received an email describing a mass-shooting threat, including a specific time, place and action, but wasn’t targeted at anyone specific. Police said they believed the threat was real and closing school on Wednesday was appropriate, as they continue to investigate the email.

“Based on new information that came available tonight again we were able to compare that to the known information that we have as well as the threat matrix and we believe that it was the appropriate decision to go ahead and move forward with opening the school back up,” said Deputy Chief Steve Clark.

Investigators said the email may have originated in the United States. But because the information traveled through several overseas servers, it makes it difficult to track down the source. However, investigators said they’re working on several promising leads. Edmonds said counselors will be available for anyone with concerns.

“My students and staff can come to work and come to school, feel safe, go about their day without any concerns of being attacked,” Edmonds said.

The district said it plans to activate it’s emergency messenger system, so parents who couldn’t make it Wednesday evening know school is back open on Thursday. Information will go to parents by text, email and a phone call. The district also plans to keep parents in the loop with whatever information they can share about the investigation.