Threat prompts St. Joseph’s Academy to beef up security

St. Joseph’s Academy is holding school today amid heightened security due to an anonymous threat that was left on the school’s voice-mail system Saturday. According to school officials and the Baton Rouge Police Department, St. Joseph’s administrators forwarded the call to the BRPD Sunday “out of an abundance of caution.” The BRPD has been investigating the threat since then, as has District Attorney Hillar Moore III. In the meantime, an unspecified number of uniformed BRPD officers are providing security around the campus and will continue to do so “if such staffing is deemed appropriate, after close of school today,” according to Lt. Don Kelly, a BRPD spokesman. Parents were made aware of the threat Sunday evening in a recorded call from the school’s principal, Linda Harvison, who did not provide details about the nature of the threat. That sent off a mild panic. Moore says his phone was “ringing off the hook” with calls from concerned parents. Later Sunday night, the school followed up with a subsequent call assuring parents that adequate security measures were being taken. Nevertheless, many parents chose not to send their daughters to school today; some classes reportedly have as few as one-third of their normal attendance. —Stephanie Riegel