Students evacuated from Laurel Highlands
A bomb threat that was written on a bathroom tile at Laurel Highlands Middle School Friday morning was unfounded, a school official said.
According to Superintendent Jesse Wallace, a teacher discovered the threat around 9:15 a.m. and notified the administration.
The threat read, “A bomb will go off today” and was written in a student-only bathroom for boys, Wallace said.
Students were then evacuated and taken to the football field while the State Police Forensics Hazard team scanned the school. Wallace said the team found that the threat was most likely benign, an assessment that was then confirmed by a bomb-sniffing dog provided by Uniontown police.
“It was determined by the dog that there was no threat,” he said.
Wallace said the students were permitted to return to the school between 10 and 10:15 a.m., but the investigation continued.
Cameras outside the bathroom identified a handful of students that were questioned by the administration, he said. Through the course of the investigation, a student confessed.
“That student is being dealt with,” he said. “We’re going to pursue it as far as we can, both legally and through the school district.”
Wallace said he has to consider a number of other factors before the discipline is determined.
“We’re not going to take any threat lightly,” he said. “We’re going to pursue any threat to the fullest extent. The health, safety and welfare of all students is paramount, and we’re going to do everything we can to maintain that.”