File Photo – Beach Park Middle School | Photo: Google Street View

School officials say Beach Park Middle School was placed on hard lockdown and police searched the school Monday morning following a threat made on a social media app.

Beach Park School District 3 administration said in a letter to parents that a threat was made to Beach Park Middle School on Snapchat.

The school did not say what type of threat was made but said they take “all threats seriously.” A hard lockdown was put in place.

The nature of the threat required the search of every locker in the building, which is why the lockdown took a long time, the school said.

The search was conducted in coordination with school administration and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

The lockdown continued after the search was completed because the sheriff’s office was working to investigate the source of the threat.

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Students who asked to use the restroom were escorted by staff to the restroom.

The lockdown has since been lifted, the school administration said Monday afternoon.

Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli told Lake and McHenry County Scanner that a juvenile directed a threat to the school.

He said further information on the nature of the threat was not available for release.

No weapons were found during the search and detectives are continuing to investigate.

There does not appear to be a threat to the school, Covelli said.

“While we do not believe students were ever in danger, we took every necessary precaution to ensure that,” the school said in their letter to parents.

“We will debrief with teachers at the end of the day today so that they can have meaningful conversations with students tomorrow morning,” the letter said.

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The school said they encourage students to say something when they see something, which is what led to today’s threat.

“Please have a conversation with your child about the importance of reporting any suspicious activity, at the same time, please be sure your child understands the serious nature of making such threats,” the letter said.