Lakeville police: Threat that closed schools was not credible

Lakeville police said Friday that a threat that prompted the closure of all Lakeville Area Schools buildings earlier in the day was not credible.

The school district shifted all students to distance learning for the day and said it would cancel all school events Friday evening.

However, the district said it would resume activities Saturday and reopen school buildings for classes Monday.

In a news conference, police and school officials said the district received a bomb threat in an e-mail Friday morning, and school leaders quickly alerted police.

Police Chief Jeff Long said his department determined the threat was not credible after completing an "exhaustive" investigation that involved local and federal law enforcement agencies. He declined to release additional information about the e-mail, citing an ongoing investigation.

Superintendent Michael Baumann said the threat was sent to several administrators at Lakeville South High School but involved several different school buildings.

Baumann said the district chose to quickly shut down school buildings because officials had to consider the threat serious until they could determine otherwise. "The safety of our students has to be put first," he said.

The district serves about 11,000 students in most of Lake­ville, parts of Burnsville and Elko New Market, and portions of Eureka, Credit River and New Market townships. It has eight grade schools, three middle schools and two high schools.