Bomb threat keeps students at home Friday

Posted September 10, 2014 at 2:16 pm

School in Clinton County was called off Friday due to a possible bomb threat made to the high school. School officials decided to cancel classes district-wide late Thursday night, early Friday morning after putting together a Safety Team comprised of other principals throughout the district as well as other personnel.

The Kentucky State Police was notified of the situation and the K-9 Unit was dispatched to the high school Friday.

Three K-9 teams did a search of the school grounds and no evidence of a explosive device was found.

Kentucky State Police Trooper John Paul responded to the complaint and through his investigation was able to identify a juvenile who was allegedly responsible for the threat.

The investigation is ongoing with charges to follow, according to the Kentucky State Police.

No names have been released to the public, however, Superintendent Charlotte Bernard said the juvenile in question was a Clinton County High School student.

“We received a call from dispatch that reported they had a call reporting a potential threat,” Bernard said. “We formed a threat assessment team at 2:45 this morning (Friday) at dispatch.”

The threat assessment team was made up of Clinton County High School Principal Sheldon Harlan, Clinton County Middle School Principal Teresa Scott, Technology Coordinator Sid Scott II, Director of Pupil Personnel Julie York and Bernard.

“We included both the middle school and high school principals because at the time we thought we would be dealing with a middle or high school student,” Bernard said. “The individual turned out to be a high school student. Later our entire threat assessment team came together which includes all principals.”

Throughout the school year certain drills, including tornado and other situations are discussed and evacuations for those situations are planned. Bernard said protocols for an event like the one Friday are in place and she thought the plan went smoothly.

“Our team arrived once they were called, we assessed the threat and what level we felt the threat was at and what action it deemed necessary,” Bernard said. “After gathering the information and realizing this was a very serious threat, we felt like the safety of the children was most important, so we decided to obviously cancel school and follow through with an investigation.”

Bernard said school was canceled district-wide due to the information the threat assessment team had at the time.

“We were going on information that said we had a threat at one building,” Bernard said. “The investigation was not complete, so I did not feel comfortable sending students into some buildings. Safety is first and foremost.”

After the KSP K-9 Units cleared the high school, officials performed a spot check of all lockers and did another sweep of the gym and other areas for added precaution.

Once cleared, all activities after school were back on a regular schedule, including Friday night’s football game against McCreary Central.

One event scheduled for Friday, which was canceled, was the district-wide pep rally. Bernard said they still have plans to have the pep rally, but a future date has not yet been determined.

“Today, our threat assessment team could not be more thrilled with the staff here at the school, district and teachers at how they have responded to this event,” Bernard said. “I think even more, this brings us closer as a family. We are definitely going to have our pep rally during the next few weeks, but we have to set schedules with a lot of people. I would like to thank all first responders and community partners. From the start of this event, they have been very supportive, offering help and helping us throughout the day.”

One tool the school system has at its disposal is a phone call system that can alert people of situations, like Friday’s event. It is also used to notify parents or guardians if school has been canceled for weather or any other reasons.

“For example, we made a message and sent it to 5,389 phones,” Bernard said. “Whatever number a parent gives us at the beginning of the year, we put that in our database. It alerts almost everyone.”

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Above, two Kentucky State Police officers who responded to Friday’s report of a bomb threat at Clinton County High School are talking with a third officer and K-9 handler just out of view near the rear of the high school during a sweep of the campus. Another KSP K-9 unit is shown sweeping the area near the high school side porch. No explosive devises were found during the search.