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School lockdown ends quickly

A lockdown at Clovis High School was removed around 2 p.m. Friday after officials discovered a suspicious teen reported to police was only a student preparing for after-school baseball practice.

“It turned out it was a baseball player,” Clovis Police Lt. Jim Schoeffel said. “Baseball bat; baseball season. ... Everything was OK, and school went back to normal,” he said.

Schoeffel said police take all threats seriously until or unless they determine otherwise.

CHS Principal Jody Balch said the school was locked down for about an hour after a student reported seeing an unknown, suspicious teen near the high school carrying a baseball bat.

Police and school officials said they placed the school on lockdown as a precautionary measure.

“We searched every nook and cranny for over an hour,” Balch said.

“Quite honestly,” Balch said, “we didn’t want to practice (a lockdown) today, but everything went well.”

Clovis Schools Superintendent Rhonda Seidenwurm said the incident came at a sensitive time for educators nationwide.

Seidenwurm said educators are in a heightened state of awareness because of the shootings at Virginia Tech University, as well as Friday marking the eight-year anniversary of the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.

 
 
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