Friday, April 20th, 2007
Police continue to investigate middle school bomb threat
By Janie Southard
City police continue to interview students and process evidence following the bomb threat at Celina Middle School on Thursday morning.
When the student responsible is identified, the school district will take action according to its code of conduct, including but not limited to suspension and/or expulsion.
"We will also pursue legal action through the court system," Superintendent Matt Miller said this morning. He cautioned that, if more "stunts" of this nature occur, "we will look at adding instructional time at the end of the year for the entire student body."
The Celina Police Department received the call from the school at 7:27 a.m. Thursday, according to a press release received from Police Chief Dave Slusser this morning.
Recounting the incident, Slusser writes:
"Students and staff were evacuated from the building through fire alarm procedures. Since there is student traffic between the high school and middle school the high school was placed on a 'stay put' status, which keeps students in the building."
East elementary school next door was not yet in session and would not be for another 90 minutes.
Slusser states the gymnastic wing was checked first and within about 20 minutes evacuated students were escorted into the gym for the remainder of the incident.
"The search of lockers, classrooms and other facilities took about 35 minutes. After those areas were secured, students returned to a regular school day," he said.
Several students who were in the area where the note was discovered were interviewed before they returned to class, Slusser said.
Celina police and the school district have been working together over the year to establish school safety policies for incidents such as a bomb threat.
"The primary goal is always the safety of all students and staff. The second goal is to return students to a normal school day as quickly as possible," Slusser said.
The third goal is the identification and location of the suspects, which includes interviewing and processing evidence.
