Bomb threat diffused, student confesses
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RONAN – Classes were disrupted Thursday, Dec. 1 as a 15-year-old Ronan High School student called in a bomb threat at 10:34 a.m. into the School Administration building. Immediately following, school officials contacted high school principal Tom Stack and school resource officer Jay Gillhouse.
After notifying the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, students engaged in an emergency operations plan. Ronan School District Superintendent Andy Holmlund stated that the special protocol his staff and students followed went smoothly, with no issues.
Six LCSO officers, including the sheriff and two tribal officers, responded along with the Ronan Fire Department.
According to LCSO Public Information Officer Karen Sargeant, two staff members who knew the school well worked with LCSO authorities to check the building room-by-room, locker-to-locker.
As each section was cleared, students were allowed back into their classrooms.
A thorough search turned up no bombs. Later that day, a 15-year-old Ronan High School student confessed to the crime.
According to Holmlund, he will make a recommendation to the school board for the permanent expulsion of the student, and that the “district will take the appropriate disciplinary action.”
Sargeant couldn’t say what charges could be filed.
“It was about as solid of a cooperative effort as you can find,” Holmlund said. “I couldn’t think of a better outcome.”
It was the procedures that his staff train often for, he said, that resolved the issue in just over two hours.
The Emergency Operations Plan is a tabbed book, with step-by-step procedures for resolving specific emergencies.
Sargeant said by having an EOP in place and training school staff, everyone knew what their role was, from administration to faculty and custodial staff.
“It worked like clockwork,” Sargeant said.