Police, bollards still surround Glenunga International High School campus despite arrest

There is no indication of when extra security measures at the state’s largest public school will be eased, despite police making an arrest.

Police security and bollards remain at Glenunga International High School, with no indication of when they will be removed, despite the arrest of a man who threatened to boil a female student with oil and attack the campus with a car.

Between November and February, the school received 13 threatening emails, allegedly from the man, causing fear within the school community and prompting extra security measures to be put in place.

The bollards were initially placed at the school in February after Glenunga International High School principal Wendy Johnson notified its community of “unpleasant emails”.

Ms Johnson advised families via email not to be “unsettled” by the bollards when they were put in place.

Extra security around Glenunga International High School, including bollards. Picture: RoyVPhotography

“Please do not be unsettled by what our school looks like if you drive past … and see a wall of temporary bollards in place,” Ms Johnson wrote in February.

The school community was not told of the severity of the threats until it was revealed following the man’s arrest on May 14.

An Education Department spokeswoman said “decisions around communications were made in collaboration with SAPOL at all times”.

“The safety and security of students, staff and the entire school community are always our highest priorities,” she said.

“Families, students and staff have been offered support if they need it.”

Security outside Glenunga International High School. Picture: Emma Brasier

Education Minister Blair Boyer said while the school “is very keen to know when things will be back to normal”, SA Police would ultimately advise when that would occur.

“SAPOL does a lot of work on things like this, you might not see all the work, but need to have a level of trust that they absolutely know what they’re doing to keep us safe,” Mr Boyer said.

“We had to be very careful in terms of what communications were made around making sure the community stayed safe.

“We asked a lot of that school and that school community and they were pretty amazing in being resilient and stoic.”

Mr Boyer, who visited the school on Monday to thank staff for their co-operation, said he had tasked the Education Department with organising a day to thank the Glenunga community.

An SA Police spokeswoman said the security measures protected “everyone involved while maintaining the normal operation of the school”.

Last week, Acting Police Commissioner Linda Williams said that the school community was safer knowing the man had been arrested.

The man – whose identity is suppressed – was charged with two counts of blackmail and one count of making it appear food had been contaminated.

She said the school was first made aware about the threats from “very early on”, and that SA Police shared “a lot of information with them to the level we were able to”.

“We say that we have mitigated the threat significantly, and we’re very comfortable that the school’s open today and we have been working with the Education Department,” she said.