All Steinbach, Kleefeld schools closing on Friday out of 'abundance of caution' after another phone threat

Seven schools in southeastern Manitoba will be closed as a precaution Friday after the latest in a series of threats that have forced multiple closures over the past week.

All schools in Steinbach, about 50 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg, and Kleefeld School, which is just west of the city of Steinbach, will be closed to students and staff on Friday, superintendent Shelley Amos said in a statement on the Hanover School Division's website posted Thursday.

The statement said the threat came late Thursday afternoon, when a caller to Clearspring Middle School issued a threat to that school and Steinbach Regional Secondary School.

Those two schools, along with Woodlawn School, Stonybrook Middle School, Southwood School, Elmdale School and Kleefeld School, will be closed.

Clearspring Middle School also received a voice message on Wednesday from an unknown caller who issued a direct threat to Kleefeld School, the statement said. 

Staff immediately contacted RCMP, who determined the call was associated with a U.S. number — which was also the case when Clearspring shut down due to a threat last week.

"There are indications that this is not a legitimate threat, but this has not yet been confirmed. An active investigation by the RCMP is underway," the school division's statement said.

While the schools are closed, they will transition to remote learning for the day and follow the division's existing cold weather protocol, which is outlined in the school division's statement. The statement said there's a slight chance not all teachers will be able to offer remote learning.

On Jan. 20, Clearspring Middle School shut down after getting its second gun threat in as many days — both linked to a number south of the border.

RCMP investigated and determined the threat last week wasn't credible. Mounties and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security tracked the calls to a property in Menasha, Wis.

The Menasha Police Department looked into it and ruled out involvement from the homeowners with the phone number.

"The caller would have used a false number when making the call over the internet, so the focus of the investigation will fall on identifying the IP address associated to this call," RCMP spokesperson Paul Manaigre said in a statement at the time.

Despite the caller using an internet call service to conceal the call's origins, authorities said they believed the call originated in the U.S.