Benton Harbor Area Schools cancel classes Friday following lockdown

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. -- Benton Harbor High School (BHHS) went into a hard lockdown Thursday afternoon, after a series of fights led administrators to worry for student safety.

Benton Harbor Area Schools Superintendent, Dr. Kelvin Butts, says BHHS dismissed students early to be cautious, calling busses and parents to pick up students.

"Earlier today we had several altercations at the high school, we had law enforcement come in to help us quell the situation and out of abundance of caution and safety of students, we put the school on a hard lockdown. Parents were notified, busses were called early so students can have a safe dismissal," said Butts.

While there were initial reports of a possible gun on campus, Dr. Butts said there was no weapon on school grounds at any time.

"I think students saw someone go into their book bag, but there was nothing ever found. There was nothing ever substantiated of any active shooter or any weapon being on campus today,” explained Dr. Butts.

He went on to explain that with the lockdown and other cases of recent violence in the Benton Harbor community, all Benton Harbor Area Schools will be closed Friday for administrators to go over safety protocols.

“We have closed schools for the entire district tomorrow, so that we can go through our safety precautions." stated Dr. Butts, "What we’ve noticed is that we’ve had some incidents from the community over the weekend that have spilled over into the schools, so we want to make sure we give our staff some time to process these things, go over some safety precautions and prepare to make sure that we have all the tools necessary so that as we re-enter the school buildings, that all of our students and staff are safe.” 

ABC57 will continue to watch this situation as more information is released in the investigation. Benton Harbor Area Schools operations should return as usual on Monday.