Notre Dame School cancels classes following vandalism, police say no threat to school

UPDATE

Santa Barbara police officials say the man they believe created the flyers is detained.

He was found Friday morning attending mass at Our Lady of Sorrows Church which is near the Notre Dame campus.

He was placed with a mental health care group for evaluation.

ORIGINAL STORY

For the second time in as many days, Notre Dame School in Santa Barbara has canceled classes.

The decision to cancel classes comes after the school’s stone sign was destroyed in what the school says is an act of vandalism.

A mysterious flyer that was found near Franklin Elementary School a couple weeks ago and was shared on social media has the words ‘Notre Dame’ — among other seemingly unrelated phrases — written on the flyer.

KEYT reached out to Notre Dame School regarding the closure and were directed to contact the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which released the following statement to our newsroom:

On the morning of Tuesday, March 26, 2019 the stone sign bearing the name of the school was knocked over and destroyed, and there was a flyer circulating on social media with the school’s name on it.

School officials have been in communication with parents and the entire school community. The matter is being handled in accordance with school and Archdiocesan school safety policies and procedures. The safety and well-being of our school community is of the utmost priority at our schools. While the police does not see this as a credible threat, school administrators canceled classes on Wednesday, March 26 and Thursday, March 27 .

A meeting for parents and administrators is planned for Thursday evening at the school. A Santa Barbara police representative is slated to be on hand. Media is not allowed to attend.

Santa Barbara Police Department says they are still investigating what caused the Notre Dame sign to be destroyed and whether or not there is any connection to the flyers found earlier this month.

” Santa Barbara police are continuing to investigate any nexus between flyers on social media with the Notre Dame school itself, ” said Santa Barbara Police spokesman Anthony Wagner. ” Police will continue to work in collaboration with the school to ensure everyone’s safety and wellbeing. ”

Friday’s classes are canceled as well but we are told that was a planned off day for parent-teacher conferences.