CUSD holds school safety meeting evening prior to Clovis West receiving 4th ‘swatting’ call

J.T. Gomez jt21gomez@gmail.com

February 9, 2023: Clovis West High School received a third swatting call the afternoon of Wednesday February 8th, and upon this third non-credible call CUSD called for a Community press conference to be held on the Clovis West Campus.

Clovis West and the nearby Fort Washington Middle School have been placed on lockdown for three out of the past four school days.

The calls, which law enforcement believes have not been placed locally, but rather from out of the country, have come in to both Sheriff Department and Fresno PD dispatch centers and have threatened the safety of Clovis West High School going on now three times.

With the third call, CUSD arranged for a “School Safety Informational Meeting” to be held on the Clovis West campus, in order to discuss the situation with the public.

In attendance was CUSD staff, Clovis West staff, as well as Fresno PD, the CUSD Police Department, and the FBI.

Statements were made by Clovis West Principal Eric Swain in which he acknowledged students and staff of both Clovis West and Fort Washington for their “maturity and resilience” in these trying times.

Although the threats may turn out to be non-credible, it is the stance of CUSD and local law enforcement to treat each call as if they were, sending students and staff into lockdown procedures, and essentially ending their day.

After introducing CUSD staff and law enforcement, Swain offered the floor to Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Eimear O’Brien.

“These incidents are without a doubt alarming and they create fear and disruption for your kids, for our team, and for our community.”

O’Brien then stated that CUSD does not take these threats lightly and understands those in the community who want answers to the questions they may have.

A few of these questions were answered by law enforcement including the belief that all three threats were related to a threat made at Costco over the weekend and have all originated outside of the United States. Further questions were answered and can be found on CUSD’s Youtube page.

UPDATE: After this story was published, a fourth swatting call was made, threatening Clovis West High School.

School officials stated the calls came before the start of classes on Thursday, February 9th, and that law enforcement was able to confirm a secure campus, allowing the school to run its normal school day.

“Swatting” calls, simply put as prank school shooting calls, have been an issue across the United States as of recent, as multiple schools in Michigan have also reported these calls coming in as recently as February 7th of this year.

It has also been reported by Education Week that schools in four other districts across California alone were subjects to swatting calls in the past week