Four Bend Westside schools placed in brief lockout

Four schools on Bend’s Westside were put in a precautionary “lockout” for about 20 minutes Tuesday morning due to a suspicious person who may have been seen trying to enter nearby homes, authorities said.

A self-imposed lockout at High Lakes Elementary soon was extended to nearby Miller Elementary, Pacific Crest Middle School and Summit High School. It began around 9:15 a.m. and was over before 9:40 a.m., Bend-La Pine Schools spokeswoman Julianne Repman said.

Bend Police Lt. Clint Burleigh said the schools acted on reports of someone who may have been trying to enter or break into several nearby homes. No one was found in the area, Burleigh said, and it may have involved a health or mental health issue.

In a school lockout, any unlocked exterior doors are locked, so people can’t enter or leave, but business otherwise goes on as usual. A lockdown is a more serious situation in which interior doors also are locked and students and staff remain in place until the situation is resolved.

“Lockouts have become fairly common – a precautionary, normal kind of thing,” Repman said.