Edina superintendent, police apologize for confusion amid middle school lockdown

After both of Edina's middle schools were briefly locked down last week after teenagers tried to steal a car nearby, the school district superintendent apologized to school families for muddled communications.

According to Edina police, five teens were taken into custody within minutes after trying to steal a car on Valley View Road around 10 a.m. Wednesday. The incident was about two blocks from Valley View Middle School. Police later said one of the teens had an Airsoft gun stripped of the orange cap that identifies it as a toy.

Edina police called for the exterior doors at Valley View Middle School to be locked — but a dispatcher accidentally called South View Middle School first and told them to lock down. The police did not to tell school staff why they were being told to lock the doors, according to a statement from the police and the school district, because they were "actively working and focused on the incident."

In a statement to school families last week, Edina School Superintendent Stacie Stanley said many community members were frustrated not to know right away why the schools were locked down.

Edina school officials told staff the doors were locked and no one could come in or out, and there was a large police presence on Valley View Road. Classrooms were not locked down, police said, and classes went on as usual.

Stanley said that Edina students were never in danger. By the time the police asked the middle schools to lock their doors, Stanley said, the teens were already in custody and the lockdown was meant to keep students safe and out of the way of the many officers on nearby streets.

It was not clear if the five teens were Edina students.

"(D)ue to their juvenile status, we are unable to share detailed information," Stanley said in her statement. "However, in situations like this stringent disciplinary measures are applied and aligned with school district policy and procedures."

Edina police and school officials are set to meet this week to talk about what happened.