Police: J-M student arrested made single threat
JEFFERSON – A student arrested by state police in connection with bomb threats made in Jefferson-Morgan School District was responsible for only one of the three threats the district received during the last four weeks, the board president said Tuesday.
The student was responsible for the first threat made Oct. 15, Lisa Mattish said. “We were told the individual was removed from the district prior to the last two threats and couldn’t be responsible for them,” she said.
The threats came in the form of writing on a bathroom stall or in a note left in the restroom, all in the middle-senior high school.
State police are continuing to investigate the threats made Oct. 31 and Nov. 6, Mattish said.
“We want students to be aware we have not relinquished our search to find the others,” she said.
The board only learned about the initial arrest Tuesday night during a board committee meeting. State police attended the meeting as well as about three dozen parents concerned about the recent threats.
The board was informed about the arrest only when it was announced by a trooper during the meeting, Mattish said. “I was caught off guard. I was surprised.”
The board has not been told the student’s identity, though administrators informed board members the student was no longer in the district and had been removed before the last two threats were made, she said.
The district will continue to take steps to try to prevent any further threats which have caused so much disruption in the schools and the community, Mattish said. She said comments made by parents at the building and grounds meeting were helpful and the district has taken them into consideration.
The district will now evacuate students every time there is a bomb threat, Mattish said. For the last two threats, students had remained in the schools.
The district also will provide better counseling, especially to the younger students, to help them deal with the situation and will hold an assembly with law enforcement officials to inform students about the legal consequences of making such threats, she said.
Trooper Matthew Jardine, state police public relations officer, confirmed Wednesday that the person arrested was a student in the district and a juvenile. He said police continue to investigate the matter.