False gun report at Portsmouth school blamed on Nextdoor app

Superintendent Zach McLaughlin is assuring the community there was no student with a gun on the Portsmouth Middle School campus, contrary what he said was a false notification through an outside mobile app.

McLaughlin emailed the school community Wednesday, Jan. 28, shortly after 8 a.m.

“At this time, we can confirm that no student has been caught with a gun on any Portsmouth, New Hampshire school campus,” he wrote.

Source of false report is Nextdoor app error, superintendent says

McLaughlin stated, “the Portsmouth School Department was notified that a parent had received an alert through the Nextdoor app indicating that a Portsmouth Middle School student had been caught with a gun on campus.”

This is false, McLaughlin said, explaining the notification appeared to be the result of confusion with an incident in another state.

“Our review indicates that this alert appears to have been generated automatically through Nextdoor after it picked up a news story from another application, SamDesk, regarding an incident that occurred yesterday at Churchland Middle School in Portsmouth, Virginia,” McLaughlin wrote. “The alert appears to have been misattributed to Portsmouth, New Hampshire within the platform.”

The superintendent went on to say school officials will follow up and request Nextdoor correct the error.

“We appreciate the families and staff members who reached out quickly to share this information,” he added. “As always, our first priority is the safety of our students and staff, and we want to reassure you that schools are operating normally today and that students are safe.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald. Reporting by Staff report