Billings Public Schools called off classes Tuesday, Nov. 3, after a threat was sent through a student's email account, prompting the district to loop in two law enforcement agencies even as officials said they do not believe the threat is credible. The small Noble County district made the call to shut down for the day as a precaution while investigators look into where the message came from and what, if anything, it means.
Threat Traced to a Student Email Account
According to News 9, the threat was directed toward the district through a student's email account, and district officials notified the Noble County Sheriff's Department and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol as soon as it surfaced. The sheriff's department is now investigating, the station reports. No details have been released about the exact wording of the threat, when it was sent, or who sent it.
Despite pulling the plug on classes, school administrators and law enforcement officials said they do not believe the threat is credible at this time, per the same report. Still, the district said it canceled classes out of an abundance of caution to protect students and staff, choosing not to take any chances while the sheriff's department sorts out the facts.
District Promises Updates Through Official Channels
Billings Public Schools said any additional updates on the situation will be communicated through the district's official school channels, the report notes. As of now, there's no word on whether anyone has been identified, arrested, or charged in connection with the threat, and it remains unclear whether classes will resume as scheduled going forward.
The Billings case echoes a similar scare earlier this year at Oktaha Public Schools, a Muskogee County district that canceled all classes for Aug. 25 after the Muskogee County Sheriff's Office alerted administrators to a potential threat the night before, according to Fox23. In that case, authorities determined the group chat that had sparked concern did not actually mention Oktaha Public School and did not pose a credible threat to the district, and classes resumed the next day. Oktaha's superintendent said at the time the cancellation came on the sheriff's department's recommendation while the situation was investigated. The two incidents aren't evidence of any broader pattern, but they show how quickly rural Oklahoma districts are moving to shut down operations the moment a threat, however unverified, reaches their students' devices.
For now, families in Billings are left waiting on the district's next announcement, with the Noble County Sheriff's Department continuing to dig into how the threat made its way through a student's email account in the first place.
