Campus Alert Archive
OLSD

Three High Schools in 12 Minutes: Olentangy's Multi-Campus Swatting Cascade and the District's Standard Response Protocols

OHswattingadvisoryhigh confidence
Confirmed HoaxDetermined to be a hoax. The institutional response is documented because it reveals how the alert system performed under a perceived real threat.

On May 13, 2024 beginning at approximately 8:48 AM EDT, three Olentangy Local School District high schools — Olentangy High School, Olentangy Berlin High School, and Olentangy Orange High School — received nearly-simultaneous swatting hoax calls made directly to the buildings. OLSD and the Delaware County Sheriff's Office placed Olentangy HS and Berlin HS on lockdown and Olentangy Orange HS on 'secure' level. All three campuses were cleared as hoaxes by mid-morning.

Alerts
4
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
Olentangy Local School District (Olentangy HS, Berlin HS, Orange HS)
Public Bachelors · OH
~23,000 studentsParentSquare + FinalSite + socialOLSD ParentSquare / FinalSite Messages
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

4 messages in sequence · 2 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Approximate reconstruction259 chars
Olentangy Schools: Olentangy High School and Olentangy Berlin High School are currently on lockdown due to a phoned-in threat. Olentangy Orange High School is on Secure status. Delaware County Sheriff's Office is on scene and investigating. Students are safe.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Sent through OLSD's ParentSquare platform to families across all three high schools within minutes of the hoax calls arriving
Reconstructed from 10TV and ABC6 reporting; the exact wording of the initial OLSD ParentSquare blast has not been published
Three high schools, three simultaneous status levels (lockdown / lockdown / secure) reflected OLSD's Standard Response Protocol (SRP) framework — a district-wide adoption of the I Love U Guys Foundation's nationally standardized K-12 emergency vocabulary
All three calls were made directly to school buildings (not 911) — a swatting-style technique that bypasses the dispatch chain and forces individual schools to make initial lockdown decisions
UPDATESMS
Verified verbatim10TV Columbus quoting OLSD district communication to parents243 chars
Please know Olentangy Schools takes any and all threats seriously, and the partnership with the DCSO, our multilayered threat assessment, and district Standard Response Protocols help ensure the safety and well-being of all students and staff.
Verbatim sentence from OLSD's parent communication during the incident, reproduced by 10TV; appears to be drawn from a longer email/ParentSquare message
Use of the term 'Standard Response Protocols' (capitalized) is a deliberate reference to the [I Love U Guys Foundation's SRP](https://iloveuguys.org/Our-Programs/SRP) — adopted by OLSD and most Delaware County Ohio K-12 districts as the common vocabulary framework
The phrase 'multilayered threat assessment' is OLSD-specific vocabulary the district reused in dozens of subsequent threat events through the 2024-25 school year
UPDATESMS
Verified verbatim10TV Columbus quoting OLSD district communication to parents181 chars
We recognize any type of threat can cause anxiety and concern, especially for our students. Our staff are prepared to provide support to any students who have questions or concerns.
Verbatim sentence from OLSD's parent communication, reproduced by 10TV; sent during the lockdown and explicitly acknowledging emotional impact even as the threat had not yet been cleared as a hoax
Concurrent emotional-validation messaging — distinct from the operational lockdown details — reflects a post-2018 K-12 communications pattern of treating parent anxiety as a separate communication channel
Was the first explicit OLSD acknowledgment that the events would have an impact on students even if the threat turned out to be unfounded — anticipating the eventual hoax determination
ALL CLEARSMS
Approximate reconstruction262 chars
Olentangy Schools: All three Olentangy high schools have been cleared and lockdowns have been lifted. The Delaware County Sheriff's Office determined the threats were a swatting hoax. All buildings are returning to normal operations for the remainder of the day.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

All-clear sent before 11 a.m. EDT, less than two hours after the initial 8:48 a.m. hoax calls — a notably fast resolution for a simultaneous three-school incident
Reconstructed from 10TV reporting; the exact wording of the all-clear has not been published
The word 'swatting' was used explicitly in OLSD communications — relatively rare in 2024 K-12 alerts; most districts at that time still used 'threat' or 'phoned-in threat' rather than naming the swatting genre directly
OLSD's Olentangy district would be hit again by a similar swatting hoax exactly two years later on May 11, 2026 — a recurrence that reflects the broader pattern of swatting actors repeatedly targeting the same identified districts
Context

Background

On Monday, May 13, 2024 at approximately 8:48 a.m. EDT, three Olentangy Local School District high schools — Olentangy High School, Olentangy Berlin High School, and Olentangy Orange High School — received nearly-simultaneous swatting hoax calls placed directly to the buildings. The calls bypassed 911 dispatch, forcing each individual school to make a lockdown decision in real time. OLSD and the Delaware County Sheriff's Office placed Olentangy HS and Berlin HS on full lockdown and Olentangy Orange HS on 'Secure' status — the three-tier graduation reflecting OLSD's use of the I Love U Guys Foundation's Standard Response Protocol. OLSD's ParentSquare platform issued the district's by-now-standardized 'multilayered threat assessment' messaging, including verbatim language about how 'Olentangy Schools takes any and all threats seriously.' By 10:30 a.m. EDT, the Delaware County Sheriff's Office determined the calls were swatting hoaxes, and all three buildings returned to normal operations. The Olentangy district would be hit by a similar three-school swatting cascade on May 11, 2026, suggesting Olentangy is among a small set of Ohio districts repeatedly targeted by the same actors.
Analysis

Key Findings

Three high schools, three simultaneous status levels (lockdown / lockdown / secure) demonstrated OLSD's implementation of the I Love U Guys Foundation's Standard Response Protocol — the most widely adopted K-12 emergency vocabulary framework in the United States
The phrased 'multilayered threat assessment' became OLSD-specific vocabulary reused in dozens of subsequent threat events; districts that build their own boilerplate phrasing during early-2024 threat events tend to reuse that exact language in later incidents
All three swatting calls were made directly to school buildings (bypassing 911) — a technique that forces individual schools to make initial lockdown decisions rather than dispatch coordinating them
OLSD was hit by a near-identical three-school swatting cascade exactly two years later (May 11, 2026), suggesting Olentangy is among a small set of Ohio districts repeatedly targeted by the same swatting actors
Outcome
All three lockdowns lifted by mid-morning after Delaware County Sheriff's Office investigation determined the calls were swatting hoaxes. All buildings returned to normal operations for the remainder of the day.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    Lockdowns lifted after swatting calls at 3 Olentangy high schools (10TV Columbus)
    10tv.com
  2. News
    Lockdown lifted at 3 Olentangy high schools, following 'swatting hoax' (ABC6 Columbus)
    abc6onyourside.com
  3. News
    Olentangy schools victim of swatting hoax (Delaware Gazette, 2026 follow-up)
    delgazette.com
  4. News
    Olentangy High School put on lockdown after 'swatting hoax' (DelawareO.com)
    delawareo.com
  5. Official
    Standard Response Protocol (I Love U Guys Foundation)
    iloveuguys.org
  6. Official
    Olentangy Local School District (official)
    olentangy.k12.oh.us
  7. Official
    Olentangy Berlin High School (official)
    obhs.olentangy.k12.oh.us
Tags
swattinghoaxohiok12olentangydelaware-countystandard-response-protocolsrpi-love-u-guysmulti-school-cascadeparentsquarephoned-threatrecurring-targetHoax
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion