‘If you stay home, you’re letting them win’

ALDEN — Students came to class at Alden-Conger High School today despite a threat found last week on a bathroom wall.

Alden-Conger Police Chief Chris Harpham greeted students as they walked into the building, asking them to put their belongings into their lockers and then walk immediately to class. Other school staff and law enforcement, including deputies from the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office, monitored doors and patrolled around the school.

“I’m thinking it will be the safest day they’ve ever had at the school,” said Wayne Jacobs, who was with his 11-year-old son, Sam.

The added security comes after a threat, which referenced today’s date, was found written in a boys’ bathroom in the school on Wednesday. The date is significant since it recalls a school shooting in Red Lake on March 21, 2005, when multiple people were shot and killed.

Alden-Conger School officials and law enforcement officers put the school on lockdown Friday, searching for weapons and checking students’ handwriting.

They did not find any weapons or handwriting that matched and agreed to continue forward with classes today.

School Superintendent Joe Guanella discussed the security plans in place at a meeting Sunday night with parents and students.

Despite his own anxiety about the situation, Guanella said he felt confident in the plan in place for the day.

Some students gathered before school at Redeemer Lutheran Church just a block away to pray for comfort and safety. Rev. Greg Ofsdahl prayed for safety for students, school staff, law enforcement and even the person who made the threat as part of a Monday morning program at the church for students called Bibles and Boxes.

Seventeen-year-old Ana Guenther, a junior, attended this prayer group and said she was anxious about going to school. She was scared about it Sunday night, but she has been asking her friends to pray for her and has found comfort in her faith.

“If you stay home, you’re letting them win,” Guenther said.

Jacobs, who also attended the prayer group, said his 11-year-old son, who has perfect attendance, decided he was going to school no matter what.

“He wasn’t going to miss today for anything,” he said.

Look for more updates throughout the day.