Stillman Valley High School was placed on a soft lockdown and saw a large police response Thursday morning due to an incident with an uncooperative student, Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle said. The incident was not violent, and there was no danger to staff or students, the sheriff said.

At 9:15 a.m. Thursday, the Ogle County Sheriff’s Office received a request for assistance from the school resource officer at SVHS regarding an uncooperative student in the office. The lockdown was put in place as a precautionary measure and the student was safely detained without incident and transported to a Rockford Hospital, VanVickle said.

“The student was brought to the office and began being belligerent and refusing to follow staff and school resource officer direction,” VanVickle said. “During that time, the school followed protocols and put a soft lockdown in place and contacted the sheriff’s office. They may not have realized that the SRO was there and nearby when everything was happening. They might have thought staff was only there. We received multiple 911 calls from the office as well.”

The sheriff said the student will not face criminal charges, but may face disciplinary action by the school.

The incident saw a response of 13 Ogle County Sheriff’s Office units, two Byron Police Department units, an ambulance and a chief from the Stillman Fire Protection District.

VanVickle said “some confusion” may have occurred among school staff on what exactly was transpiring with the student, but correct precautions were taken.

“They took precaution and called 911 just to make sure that we knew what was going on and make sure the situation was resolved,” VanVickle said. “While there wasn’t an immediate threat, I think the school staff did exactly what they should have done. It’s always better to say something rather than wish you had said something. While there wasn’t anything of a violent nature in this instance, they believed there was so they did the exact thing they were trained to do and should have done. All of the pieces worked because everyone did what they’re trained to do.”

The Meridian School District has an Ogle County Sheriff’s Office deputy as its SRO, and VanVickle said that officer worked to ensure the safety of students and staff in the incident and relayed information to units en route.

“Teamwork starts from the very beginning when the school called 911 and gave our dispatchers information and we were able to quickly mobilize,” VanVickle said. “Obviously, we have an SRO in the school, so our response time was immediate. We were able to get the patrol deputies to respond as well as the Byron Police Department. We were able to implement all of those pieces as well as the response from Stillman Fire. While it wasn’t a violent encounter, everything we’d do during a violent encounter was implemented today and worked very well.”