December 2, 2022
Update – 2:04pm – From School Superintendent Jeremy Palotti:
The Hornell City Schools have been on a lockout the majority of the day today (12/2/22) due to police activity in the city.
The school has been in constant contact with both the Hornell Police Department and the Steuben County Sheriff’s Department. As mentioned in the earlier message sent this morning, there has been no threat made towards the school, its students or its employees. Based upon information from the police, their work in this matter and their guidance, the dismissal of all schools will continue as scheduled and as usual. Additional police presence will continue in the city and more staff will be involved in the dismissal process.
Parents can certainly arrange to pick up children who may typically walk or ride a bus. However, that is certainly not required and is not a directive that will be put in place.
As always, feel free to contact the district office with questions. If you desire different dismissal arrangements for your child, please alert the main office in the school they attend as necessary.
10:08am FROM SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT JEREMY PALOTTI:
A message from HORNELL CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT
During the arrival of students this morning at the High School and Intermediate School, we were alerted of a situation by law enforcement where they were in foot pursuit of an individual in the city who made some threatening remarks. Please note that during this time, there was never a belief that the individual had connections to the school or that students or the school was in danger. Out of caution, we entered a lockdown in the High School and the Intermediate school to be sure everyone was safe and secure and then immediately moved all schools, including North Hornell Elementary, to a lockout.
We are remaining in a lockout for the foreseeable future and until law enforcement informs us to make a change in our status.
Given this situation and law enforcement knows who they are looking for, we will be able to allow students/parents/employees to enter/exit through the main entrance of each school building for the remainder of the day.
As stated previously, there isn’t a belief that there is a threat to the school, it is more that this situation is occurring in the area and we all want to be cautious. In addition to our SROs, HPD and the Sheriff’s office will have cars in the area to add additional support.
If you have any questions, please contact the district office.
9:45am
HORNELL, NY – Hornell Police Chief Ted Murray tells WLEA News, that Hornell High is under lockdown right now, because a suspect that Hornell Police were trying to apprehend, ran away.
The police chief says the following:
the incident is unrelated to the school
it’s a suspect in the neighborhood of the school buildings
and the lockdown was made just as a precaution, because the incident is going on in the neighborhood of Hornell High
no one is in any danger
