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Lydiksen Elementary School parents were recently made aware of two situations that took place late last week — an unexpected visit from federal law enforcement agents on Friday and an unidentified man being spotted on campus Saturday, according to district personnel.
No students or staff were in any danger in either case, Lydiksen vice principal Jennifer McCullough said in an email message she sent out to the school community on Sunday afternoon.
The Pleasanton Police Department responded to the school on Highland Oaks Drive after a call on Saturday of an unidentified male being seen on campus, McCullough stated in the community message.
Patrick Gannon, director of communications for the Pleasanton Unified School District, later told the Weekly that a staff member saw the man and made the call to police.
McCullough said that PPD “swept, cleared and secured the Lydiksen campus” on Saturday. It is not immediately known if the man was found or detained, or if there is still an ongoing investigation to find him. PPD did not respond to questions as of time of publication.
McCullough further stated in her message that she and others had gone back to the school on Sunday in order to further search the school and ensure it would be safe for students’ return on Monday.
“In an abundance of caution, this morning, a sergeant from the Pleasanton Police Department, two PUSD district office staff including an administrator, and I searched the inside of each building on campus,” she said. “Every building on campus has been searched, cleared and secured.”
Just one day before the stranger was spotted on campus, McCullough said that two federal agents who identified themselves as agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security visited the school unannounced.
The vice principal said she contacted PPD and was able to confirm that the two were in fact federal agents and that the visit was “not due to any impending danger to staff or students.” A Pleasanton police officer later arrived at the campus around 1:30 p.m. Friday.
It is not known whether the two agents were in fact from DHS or if they were federal agents from a different agency or division. A regional spokesperson for the federal DHS did not have immediate information on the situation and suggested the Weekly contact state homeland security officials.
A spokesperson from the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services — which has its own Division of Homeland Security — said the state agency did not have any specific information on the issue in Pleasanton and directed the Weekly to reach out to the federal DHS directly.
Gannon said that the district does not have enough information about the purpose of the visit to comment on it yet.
“We do want our community to know that the safety and security of our schools is of paramount importance and we continue to work with our partners at the Pleasanton Police Department in our collaborative efforts in this regard,” Gannon said.
Police and school officials have not yet confirmed whether they believe the two incidents are related.
Gannon also clarified that McCullough handled the situations on Friday and over the weekend because Lydiksen principal Jacob Berg was away from the campus on those days because of an unrelated matter.