A threat made against an Atlanta, Ga., prep school called the Woodward Academy led to heightened security Saturday at the Woodward Resource Center (WRC) and the Woodward Academy, according to an email sent to WRC staff Thursday.
“We have received word of a potential threat from Woodward Academy in Atlanta, Ga., 900 miles from here,” the WRC email said. Georgia authorities notified the two Woodward, Iowa, facilities “because of the similarity of the names.”
The threat indicated a target of Saturday, March 3.
“According to law enforcement, this is considered a very unlikely threat. However, we take this situation seriously,” the WRC message said.
Boone County Deputy Sheriff Brian Pontius said the threat “came through some sort of a game app that’s out there now, and when the security director of the Woodward Academy in Atlanta saw it, he notified the FBI and everybody else. He’s the one who headed up the whole thing and did a really great job of getting everybody notified. He definitely got the word out, which was good.”
Pontius said there are three Woodward Academies in the United States. “There’s a junior high somewhere in Pennsylvania that’s also called Woodward Academy,” he said, “so basically all three schools were notified.”
Authorities at the WRC, a state hospital treating children and adults with intellectual disabilities and other related disabilities, said they discussed the threat with law enforcement and requested an “increased law enforcement presence at Woodward Academy and on Woodward Resource Center grounds throughout the day on Saturday, March 3.”
A WRC staff member said officers of the Boone County Sheriff’s office, the Boone County EMS and the Woodward Police Department were seen on hand all day Saturday in anticipation of any disturbance.
“We had an extra deputy and a reserve deputy on duty down there as well as the Woodward Police had two officers down there,” Pontius said. “There were no incidents, none that we’re aware of anyway.”
He said the Atlanta office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation “was trying to track down the phone” used in the threat. “It was a real vague threat that there was going to be some sort of a violent deal. Basically, we all decided to was err on the side of caution and be prepared, so that’s what we did.”
Pontius said the Woodward Academy imposed a partial lock down in the evening “but other than that, everything went as normal yesterday. They had visitation and whatnot. We just had officers stationed there.”
