Update: Urbana High School placed under “soft” lockdown after threats

Police cars are parked outside Urbana High School on Feb. 13, 2023.

Updated at 12:00 p.m.

URBANA – Urbana High School is now under a “soft” lockdown after Urbana Police and administrators secured the building, according to the Urbana School District 116 Facebook page. Students are allowed to move about within the building as usual, but students who go outside may not come back in. 

Administrators at Urbana School District 116 placed the district’s high school under “hard” lockdown on Monday morning after receiving threats. Students are safe.

In an email to families, Dr. Jennifer Ivory-Tatum said the high school received threatening phone calls on Monday morning. 

“Officers are also present on the grounds and the threats were isolated to UHS,” said Ivory-Tatum in the statement. “Urbana Police will maintain a visible presence at or around Urbana schools for the entire school day.”

The statement also said UHS National African American Parent Involvement Day activities are canceled. 

Urbana High School was targeted for threats in November 2022, which led to class cancellations, lockdowns and e-learning days.

In late November, police arrested two 16-year-old girls in connection with those threats. One girl was arrested in Chicago and the other was an Urbana High School student. No one was physically injured during those incidents. 

Reginald Hardwick

Reginald Hardwick is the News & Public Affairs Director at Illinois Public Media. He oversees daily newscasts and online stories. He also manages The 21st Show, a live, weekday talk show that airs on six NPR stations throughout Illinois. He is the executive producer of IPM's annual environmental TV special "State of Change." And he is the co-creator of Illinois Soul, IPM's Black-focused audio service that launched in February 2024. Before arriving at IPM in 2019, he served as News Director at WKAR in East Lansing and spent 17 years as a TV news producer and manager at KXAS, the NBC-owned station in Dallas/Fort Worth. Reginald is the recipient of three Edward R. Murrow regional awards, seven regional Emmy awards, and multiple honors from the National Association of Black Journalists. Born in Vietnam, Reginald grew up in Colorado and is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado. Email: rh14@illinois.edu Twitter: @RNewsIPM