The South Whidbey School District was placed on “secure” following a series of anonymous threats that circulated online on Monday.

In a message sent out to the community Tuesday afternoon, Superintendent Jo Moccia said the person or the group behind the threats has not been identified, but law enforcement has not found the threats to be credible.

At 9:30 a.m. on Monday, a student informed the district that they saw a Snapchat message threatening to harm the school during the evacuation drill scheduled for Tuesday. Because the student did not screenshot the threat, the district was not able to see it directly.

The administration contacted law enforcement to investigate the threat immediately after being alerted by the student, Moccia wrote.

At 3:30 p.m., the district sent a message written by Director of Safety John Sommer to inform students, staff and families about what happened, and announced the cancellation of the evacuation drill at the 6-12 campus.

Four minutes later, an unknown account posted a threat on TikTok, tagging multiple students.

According to screenshots shared on local community groups on Facebook, the anonymous user warned students that they would arrive at the school with a “mate” at 11:03 a.m. on Sept. 23, armed with an AR15 and fireworks “ready to fire at any student in sight.”

As noted by Moccia, the dates and language in the post were not accurate. The user in fact posted the threat the same day of the planned attack, while also stating it would attack “tomorrow” — which would have actually been Sept. 24. The post was later removed by the account owner only to be posted again at 5:30 p.m., Moccia wrote.

At 5:16 p.m. Monday, the district informed the community that its campuses would be placed into a “secure posture” the next day.

The district adopted the I Love U Guys safety program, which has also been adopted by the districts in Coupeville and Oak Harbor — where Hillcrest Elementary was placed on secure just two weeks ago, after staff heard gunshots in the vicinity of the school.

Under this new safety protocol, when a district imposes a secure, staff bring the students inside, lock the outside doors and continue operations as usual. South Whidbey students did not go outside for PE or recess, and any outside visitor was screened at the door before entering.

Officers from the Langley Police Department and the Island County Sheriffs patrolled the campuses throughout Tuesday, Moccia wrote, inspecting the area on Monday evening and Tuesday morning with the help of district administrators. Tuesday morning, students were asked to open their bags upon entering the 6-12 campus. At the k-5 campus, students were quickly escorted inside the building and welcomed in the cafeteria or the classroom, Moccia wrote.

The district also canceled Tuesday’s Homecoming Colorfest, an event where students wear all white and get splashed in colors, according to Director of Communications Kristina Macarro, who said she isn’t aware of any plans to reschedule Colorfest. Tuesday’s Toga Day was moved to Wednesday, she said, because part of the event takes place outside.

After discussing with law enforcement, the district decided it would resume normal operations on Wednesday. Students who chose to remain home on Tuesday received an excused absence, Sommers wrote on Monday.

This event follows a wave of online threats made toward multiple school districts around the state, according to Moccia’s message and other local news sources.

“These online threats have been taking up a great deal of law-enforcement time and disrupting the educational process,” Moccia wrote. “They are also very hard to investigate and determine a source.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, law enforcement is still waiting for a response from TikTok after seeking a warrant to find the account owner, Moccia said.