(SBT24/7News) Rumors that have been circulating Thursday morning about a lockdown taking place at Penn High School in the wake of a violence threat are not true, the spokeswoman for the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corp. said.

"We have a lot of rumors that are flying around that are totally unfounded," Teresa Carroll said.

The rumors dealing with a possible shooting threat were sparked by graffiti found in a girls’ bathroom earlier this week, likely on Monday, Carroll said Thursday morning.

The writing said, "Kill all the (expletive)," Carroll said.

Rumors among students began to surface Wednesday and started to pick up steam, she said, after which staff had an informal meeting Wednesday night.

Officials have placed a message on the school Web site, which says, "We are encouraging parents to send their children to Penn High School today. The rumors about an incident are not based on facts.

"We have a strong school safety plan in place, and Penn administration and our school resource officer have investigated and they found no evidence to support the misinformation that has created fear about an incident today."

"We investigated as much as we could," Carroll said. "We have no idea who would have printed (the graffiti), but of course rumors started to spread about what had been said, and it’s gotten out of hand."

It is not unusual to have graffiti in a high school bathroom, Carroll said. A large number of students have left school Thursday, Carroll said, but officials would not be having school Thursday if they felt students would be in danger, she said.

She said she wouldn’t know the total number of students who left school until the end of the day. At this point, there is no reason to be afraid of attending school Thursday or Friday, Carroll said.

"I think some people are genuinely afraid," Carroll said, "and I think others are students who do not wish to be at school today."