Indian Community School closed through week following handgun threat against staff

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with new information.

Indian Community School, a private school in Franklin that serves Indigenous Milwaukee-area students, will remain closed until Monday after a threat involving a handgun against a staff member on Wednesday evening, according to school administrators.

“The situation began with a dispute over a property boundary line and escalated to a direct threat, resulting in a police response and an arrest near the school,” read an email sent to families at roughly 9 p.m. Wednesday night.

Siobhan Marks, the school’s communications and marketing director, confirmed Thursday that the individual threatened a school staff member, but declined to detail the staff member’s role.

Marks said it was the presence of a gun that led to the assessment of the threat as credible.

“We’re a school,” Marks said. “There are laws about that.”

Marks said the school will remain closed because police have not completed their work on the case and that administrators need time to put additional security measures in place.

In the email sent to families Wednesday night, school administrators said they were working with Franklin police and that closing the school was the safest decision for students, staff, families and the community.

“We understand that an unexpected school closure creates challenges for families and appreciate your understanding as we carefully and responsibly address this situation,” the email stated.

Second incident this week

The closing was preceded by a separate, unrelated incident that led the school, located at 10405 W. St. Martins Road, to lockdown Tuesday afternoon.

The lockdown occurred after the school’s web monitoring system “picked up references to a picture of bullets in a revolver and dissatisfaction with [Indian Community School] on social media posts,” according to an email sent to families earlier Wednesday from Carrie McGhee Gleba, school administrator of Indian Community School.

Marks said the lockdown lasted roughly 20 to 30 minutes. The school held buses until the lockdown was lifted.

According to a parent with several children at Indian Community School, students stayed in their classroom with the doors locked and found hiding spots. Staff let the students out of their classrooms about 10 minutes after the regular end time of the school day.

“We realize just how overwhelming and terrifying this experience was for our families, our staff, and most especially our students,” Gleba said. “During every moment of the lockdown, our dedicated staff surrounded your children with love, reassurance, and steady care.”

Franklin police investigated the incident that occurred Tuesday and determined that what was pictured “was not an actual firearm or ammunition; there was no direct threat, and there was no indication of danger to ICS staff, students, or the community,” according to the email from Gleba.

The school operated normally Wednesday before administrators announced the closure later that evening following the second event.

Marks said the school began notifying families within minutes of Tuesday’s lockdown and told them that buses would be delayed.

On Wednesday evening following the second incident, she said, administrators waited for information from police before beginning to notify families around 8 p.m. that school would be closed.

Marks said the school has heard from some families who said they did not receive the notifications but that they attempted to reach families through several means, including text messages, emails and a recorded phone message from the school administrator.

Those with questions can call the school, she said.

As of Thursday morning, police had not released new information about the property dispute and have not yet responded to a request for comment from NNS, though other news outlets have reported that the dispute was related to a landscaping property-line dispute and that a Franklin man was arrested after pointing a gun at a school employee.

The faith-based inter-tribal school served 359 students during the 2024-25 school year, according to its website.

The school places a focus on traditional Indigenous teachings, native languages and cultural values. The school was founded in 1959 and moved to its current location in 2007.

Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

Originally published by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service.