Panther Valley High School students were dismissed early from class Monday morning after police received a lead that inferred a student was planning violence.

Superintendent Dennis Kergick said that at about 7 a.m., he received a phone call from the disciplinarian at the high school/junior high who informed him there were several police departments on site.“The impetus behind that was the fact that some sort of anonymous email had been sent to the Jim Thorpe Police Department implicating one of our students and a plan to bring two handguns into school and shoot the place up,” said Kergick, who added the student had been secured from his classroom, spoken to, and the building had gone into lockdown.“There’s no verifiable proof in implicating this kid,” he said. “To the best of our knowledge, the student was not (involved).”Kergick said the decision was then made for early dismissal, which began around 10 a.m.“It went as best as it possibly could; you’re trying to get 900 kids out of the building,” he said, adding that he was grateful for the strong police presence on site. There’s always little tweaks and modifications that have to be completed. I did hold a preliminary meeting with the junior/senior high faculty to debrief and find out what went well and what didn’t go so well.”Kergick said the building was expected to be open Tuesday, and that classes were expected to start on time.“We do anticipate some sort of precautionary measures in place as well,” he said.Mark Nalesnik, Carbon County Emergency Management Agency director, said that everything was done in the interest of everyone’s safety.Nalesnik said the incident was the result of “some sort of threat,” and that it remains an “open and ongoing investigation.”He said the building was also going to be searched by several law enforcement, K-9 units, and state police.Jack Soberick, Lansford Borough police chief, said police responded to a “generalized threat against the safety of the school and students.”Soberick said they then activated their response plan to ensure the safety of the students, staff, and teachers.He said this was the result of cooperative effort with Jim Thorpe police, who received the anonymous threat through an email tipline, as they provided them with the initial information that triggered the response.Soberick said that upon arrival, they activated the plan for the overall safety of the students.He said it was a generalized threat, adding that he was assigned to be press officer in this case by Summit Hill Police Chief Joseph Fittos.Soberick said they checked every student to make sure they were safe when they were leaving.“The teachers and staff were fantastic,” he said.In addition to Lansford and Jim Thorpe police, also assisting were the Summit Hill, Nesquehoning and South Whitehall police departments, as well as Pennsylvania State Police and Carbon County EMA.After 11 a.m., Soberick said Lansford police responded to the 300 block of W. Kline Avenue for a fight in progress.He said the fight involved students and parents, and that there were eight people physically fighting at the time.Soberick said he believes the fight was just an ongoing incident due to hatred of each other.He said no injuries were reported.However, Soberick said police had one person, a parent, in custody and being charged.Coaldale Police Department also assisted in the matter, he said.