A bomb threat prompted evacuation of Fern Ridge Middle School this (Wednesday) morning. Homeland Security brought in a bomb-sniffing K-9 to search. No explosives were recovered but the district’s emergency protocols were put to the test.
Fern Ridge Middle School administrators were the first to find the threat spray painted on two walls. Superintendent Dennis Fredrick arrived soon after.
Fredrick:“There were all kinds of graffiti there that including sexual things. In two places there was a threat that he had, whoever the writer was had, dynamite and they were going to blow up the school at 10 o’clock.”
Classes had not yet begun and that made evacuation easier. Fredrick says as students were arriving, they were sent to the elementary school. Fredrick says he’s never seen graffiti this bad.
Fredrick:“We are taking to a couple different kids. We get email messages that will say ‘Gosh, I know who it was.’ That may or may not be true. So the police are looking into it, the high school is looking into whether it could be any of their students. All of us are investigating. I have no doubt that we’re gonna find out who did this.”
Fredrick says previous emergency trainings prepared them for this kind of scenario. As for the graffiti, maintenance crews quickly painted it over.
