Florida school on lockdown but not for the reasons you would expect

Schools get put on lockdown for various reasons these days, often because a student brings something on campus that should not be on the grounds, or there is a threat in the immediate vicinity of the school.

Almost always because of human activity.

But Thursday morning, students at River Springs Middle School in Orange City, an east-central Florida community in Volusia County, were kept inside their classrooms on lockdown because a mama bear and three cubs were spotted close by the school, said the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.

The department, and the school resource deputy, were on high alert for about two hours as officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission arrived to assess the bears' visit.

"Fortunately, the bear family moved on shortly after 10 a.m. after foraging for food around the campus for about two hours, according to the FWC officer who arrived on scene," the sheriff's office said in a Facebook post.

The "angst" began about 8:05 a.m. when the bears were spotted close to the portable classrooms. Teachers were told to keep their students inside to avoid alarming the middle schoolers.

"Thankfully, the bears' presence did not cause any serious problem and due to their healthy fear of humans, they moved on without harm to anyone on campus or themselves," the sheriff's office posted.

This leads one to wonder what Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who famously said during her Senate confirmation hearing last year that guns might be appropriate in remote schools to defend against grizzly bears, thinks about this development.

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This story was originally published May 3, 2018 at 3:03 PM with the headline "Florida school on lockdown but not for the reasons you would expect."