Feared Weapon Never Made It Onto Indian Trails Campus; School Has Normal Friday

Put the rumors to rest first: There never was a bomb scare at Indian Trails Middle School today. There never was a weapon on campus. There never even was a lock-down (and there hasn’t been one there all year), Indian Trails Principal Vernon Orndorff said at noon today.

Here’s what took place: Last night the Indian Trails school resource deputy told Orndorff that “there was a potential threat on campus today.” The threat involved a student who would have brought a weapon to school today. As it turns out, the report was unfounded.

“The administration knew about it last night,” Orndorff said. “We contacted families directly involved.” Both families involved were cooperative. The family whose child allegedly was going to be bringing the unspecified weapon to school kept the child home. Law enforcement was beefed up at the school with additional school resource deputies and administrators from the central office, and the day began normally, and unfolded normally.

At the beginning of the day, Orndorff said, “there was an announcement that the situation is being handled, and we’re going to have a fantastic Friday of academic achievement on campus.” Those were the words students heard over the school-wide intercom.

By noon, an extra school resource deputy who’d been brought in from his other school was able to leave Indian Trails. An investigation is ongoing. The deputy was not able to address the matter officially.

By mid-afternoon, the sheriff’s office had released the following statement: “The Flagler County Sheriffs Office responded to Indian Trails Middle School Friday morning in response to a report filed overnight by a parent who said her son was told by another ITMS student that he planned to bring a gun to school this morning. The Sheriff’s Office conducted an investigation and determined the report was unfounded. School safety and school functions were never in jeopardy and classes were uninterrupted.”

The school administration has been fielding calls from worried parents all day. But campus was otherwise quiet–and at half past noon, unexpectedly, a group of 22 students appeared outside the principal’s office, bearing a gift: it was Indian Trails’ service learning students, who volunteer their time rendering various services around town and county–cleaning up the beach, helping the recent Buddy Walk for down syndrome, organizing a pumpkin patch at Verdego, the local landscape company.

“Now you’re an official member of service learning,” Somer Keech, a seventh grader, told the principal after the group presented him with a bright red sweatshirt with his name imprinted on it.

“It’s made my day,” Orndorff, who’s in his first year as principal at Indian Trails (he was previously an assistant principal at Matanzas High School), said. “Thank you. Believe me, I needed this today.”