Police said this week they are continuing to investigate a threat made against St Rose School midday on November 14, which resulted in the parochial school at 40 Church Hill Road briefly being put into “lockdown” mode as a protective measure.

It was the second threat made against a local school last week, the first having been a threat made against Newtown High School midday on November 11, which was Veterans Day.

In a statement, police Detective Jason Frank said that St Rose School received the threat via a telephone call at about 12:20 pm on November 14.

“The school was placed into lockdown for approximately ten minutes while Newtown police officers ensured that there was no immediate threat, and conducted an initial investigation into the threat received,” Det Frank said.

Upon verifying that there was no imminent danger to the school, the lockdown was downgraded to a “‘lock-in closed”’ security status, he said.

The school remained in lock-in closed mode until it was verified that there was no danger to the school, he said.

The lock-in closed status remained in effect until about 2 pm, and the school then resumed normal activity, he said.

Police did not disclose the nature of the threat made against the K–8 school, which is affiliated with the adjacent St Rose of Lima Church.

After learning of the security situation at St Rose School, the town school system placed the nearby Hawley Elementary School and Newtown Middle School on “lock-in open” security status.

Hawley School is at 29 Church Hill Road. Although Newtown Middle School is at 11 Queen Street, the rear lots of the middle school and St Rose School abut each other.

Lockdown, lock-in closed, and lock-in open are progressively less strict security modes.

On November 14, after the security modes had been lifted at the three schools, police Sergeant Aaron Bahamonde said that police think that the threat against St Rose School may be linked to the November 11 threat made against Newtown High School.

“We always take threats seriously until proven otherwise,” Sgt Bahamonde said.

As with the Newtown High School threat, town police are getting the FBI’s investigatory assistance with the St Rose School threat, the sergeant said.

There were no injuries stemming from the November 14 or the November 11 threats, according to police.

Midday on November 11, a Veterans Day holiday commemoration program was underway at the NHS auditorium when it was learned that the threat had been made. The threat of violence was received on the high school’s Facebook page, a popular social media site on the Internet.

Police have said that someone using some electronic device posted a threatening message on the social media site.

The threat reportedly was made from out of state and made reference to a gun and to shooting.

NHS was placed under lock-in closed status until the matter was resolved, about 45 minutes later.

Use of the various security modes is among the security measures which school and law enforcement officials have created in response to the 12/14 incident.

On October 22, Middle Gate School on Cold Spring Road entered lock-in mode after an unidentified man was seen on the school grounds. The man’s presence later was confirmed as being nonthreatening.

On October 1, Sandy Hook Elementary School in Monroe entered a lock-in mode following a bomb threat there. No bomb was found. Law enforcement agencies are continuing their investigation into that incident, which resulted in an early dismissal for students after the building was evacuated.