Bomb threat cancels school

A break in the norm occurred last Friday at Noblesville High School, when an unknown person called in a bomb threat on the school.

As soon as the school was informed of the call it issued a code green (code green is an immediate evacuation of the building). “The students left the building in an organized and professional manner,” Principal Annetta Petty announced to the student body on Monday morning.

Students who drove to school waited in the parking lot for further instructions, while bus riders and other students without their own form of transportation boarded buses and were transported to either Noblesville Middle School or White River Elementary.

Police were brought in from nearby counties and from the state department.  As K9 units were being transported to the scene, a pre-recorded message was sent out to the parents of all high school students. The message relayed information that the high school students would not have school and that elementary buses would be running behind due to transportation needs for the high school.

The school parking lot quickly emptied as news crews and K9 units arrived. The authorities did not find any sort of explosive within the school.

On Monday morning, students were notified of the seriousness of the threat. According to Petty the crime was a Class-D felony, which consists of expulsion, up to three years in prison, up to $10,000 in fines, and thousands more for police and other responders for used up resources.

“I got to school at 7:15, and the first thing I noticed was that the doors were all crowded. I just started asking around, and I first heard there was a gas leak, and then I found out about the bomb threat,” junior Connor Feeney said. “I didn’t think there was good communication going on because no one really knew what to do.”

Feeney was not the only confused student. “I wish there was an easier way to communicate what was going on to the students. They did the best they could, but I wish there was more, because once I was at the middle school, I was not informed of anything at all. At least they told us when to go home,” Senior Katie DeBoy said.

“It was the time of the day that made our response the toughest. Being before school, we could not function as well,” Assistant Principal Dan Swafford said.

“The time, the weather, the fact that we were being informed as well, and the pace at which we were being informed all affected the outcome of Friday. We could not release information unless we knew it was 100 percent true, not just partially true,” Assistant Principal Jeffrey Bryant said.