Hanna High School sophomore Janelle Lopez was focusing on the last day of TAKS testing Friday.
She had no idea her mom was outside the school, anxiously awaiting word on whether she was safe, after news broke about an alleged bomb threat on campus.
"I feel so helpless and worried because today they're TAKS testing and this is going to affect them, Patricia Torres, Lopez’s mother said. “I just sent her a text to see if she's ok, and I’m waiting for her response."
Like Torres, dozens of parents had little choice but to wait outside the school gates for details on why the school was on lockdown.
A Brownsville Independent School District spokesperson said a parent notified administrators at the school about an alleged bomb threat made through the social Internet site, Facebook.
School district police called-in the Brownsville Bomb Squad, a sniffer dog and firefighters for assistance.
Students inside the gym were evacuated.
Meanwhile, Lopez and the majority of the student body continued testing without interruption.
"Well they were just talking about something (happening) at the gym and then the seniors were like, ‘I don’t know,’ but we didn’t' know anything about it - we were just testing," Lopez said.
Brownsville ISD administrators said the bomb squad searched through students’ backpacks and questioned several people on campus.
They narrowed the pool down to just one male student who they said may have made terroristic threats.
Many students may have been oblivious to what was happening around them, but parents are not taking things so lightly.
Silvia Gonzalez, a parent of two Hanna High School students, said if a student is found to be responsible, that student needs to be punished or even expelled.
“Definitely,” Gonzalez said. “Because look at all the chaos it caused and panic for some people."
The lockdown was lifted shortly after noon.
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