All 17 Fairfield Public Schools went into lockdown this morning, Oct. 23, due to supposed bomb and shooting threats. Although the police department is still questioning whether or not the threats were a hoax, the schools took precautionary measures to ensure the safety of the near 10,000 students in the Fairfield Public Schools district.

Every school in the Fairfield district was dismissed early due to the major disruption from the lockdowns.

According to Alyssa O’Hara ’16, a student at Fairfield Warde High School, the school went into lockdown at 9:30 a.m.

“After about 15 minutes, teachers and students started getting concerned considering drills are never this long,” O’Hara said.

O’Hara recalled that after being in lockdown for a substantial amount of time, students received texts from parents alerting them of the current situation.

“I was very scared because there is nothing we can do just sitting in a classroom,” O’Hara said. “Everyone was hearing different information so it was hard to know what was really going on, which caused a lot of anxiety.”

This immediate spread of unknown information had Staples students worried that this could possibly impact the Westport Public School district.

“I was scared that we could be attacked because we are so close to them, and I have a lot of friends that live in Fairfield, so I texted them to make sure they were okay and safe,” Julie Kaplan ’17 said.

To dispel any rumors, superintendent Elliot Landon sent an email to all the staff and parents in the Westport Public School district confirming the district’s safety.

“All Westport schools are safe,” Landon wrote. “There are no lock downs in effect. Business is continuing as usual. The Westport Police Department has elected to place a patrolman on each school campus as a precautionary measure as the result of the Fairfield Public Schools lock down.”

With police officers dispatched to the Westport Public Schools, students were able to continue the school day safely.