Bomb threat causes evacuation of Albert Gallatin Senior High School
YORK RUN – Albert Gallatin Senior High School will reopen for classes today, after a bomb threat emptied the building on Wednesday morning. “There was a note found at the high school, saying a bomb was placed in the building. We assessed the situation and implemented our crisis plan. We made the decision to evacuate and dismiss the students as precautionary, due to the size of the building. We wanted adequate time to do a thorough search,” superintendent Walter Vicinelly said.
State police said a teacher discovered the bomb-threat message, which was written on a piece of paper and hanging on the wall inside stair tower C, at 7:30 a.m.
Vicinelly said the school district’s central office was notified at 8:09 a.m., and police and fire personnel responded through the Fayette County 911 emergency dispatch center. State police were assisted by firefighters from Fairchance, Collier and Smithfield.
The school day already had begun when the threat was discovered, and Vicinelly said buses were called back to the building to take the students home. He said the search of the building was expected to take a couple of hours, and school officials decided to dismiss the students – rather than keep them waiting outside.
Vicinelly confirmed the building eventually was determined to be safe.
He said authorities are investigating to attempt to find out who made the threat, and he noted that parents were told of the early dismissal through local media and the school district’s information line.
Vicinelly, in a written statement, listed the three priorities of the school district’s crisis policy.
At the top of the list is to “see to it that there is no threat to the safety of the students.” The second item is to inform parents, and the third is to “avoid unnecessary interruptions to the educational process.”
Also a priority is to “make every effort” toward the apprehension and prosecution of anyone guilty of making a bomb threat.
Any student with information on the bomb threat is asked to call state police trooper James Pierce at the Uniontown station at 724-439-7111.