Bomb threat cancels schools
Students at Washington Park School were evacuated Tuesday morning after a bomb threat was called in through a voicemail, Washington police Chief Robert Wilson said.
Students in all district schools were sent home.
District Superintendent Dr. Roberta DiLorenzo said the threat was called in to the elementary school, but that protocol called for a districtwide dismissal.
“We received a voicemail around 10 a.m. at the elementary school as we were operating on a two-hour delay due to inclement weather. We immediately stopped school buses from letting children off and returned them home. We then dismissed the high school around 10:35,” she said.
The Region 13 Task Force was notified and sent five bomb-sniffing dogs to search the school just after noon. Nothing was found, according to authorities.
“The good news is this was an apparent prank. The bad news is this was a waste of a school day. That’s very frustrating. We don’t know whether this was an internal prank from a student or an outside source similar to what we saw last year (at Seton La Salle).
“But with law enforcement as it is today, the odds of them being caught are very high, and we’ll look to prosecute the person or persons to the fullest extent of the law,” DiLorenzo said.
She expected school would be back in session today.