Kanapaha Middle School was evacuated for about an hour and a half Monday morning after a bomb-threat hoax left Alachua County Sheriff’s Office deputies and school staff sweeping the area for explosives.
Alachua County Sgt. Becky Butscher said the school received the phone threat Friday but did not report it until about 9 a.m. Monday, when staff first heard the 3-day-old voicemail. Police responded as students and faculty were evacuated to the school’s track field, where they are trained to go in emergency situations.
Butscher said the department’s bomb squad was not called out because there were no suspicious items indicating a bomb. Instead, deputies and staff members conducted a physical search.
“It was very calm and smooth,” she said of the sweep at the school.
Butscher said this was the first bomb threat the department has received this school year.
“We don’t want it to happen very often, but it is somewhat of a frequent thing that occurs at schools,” she said.
Threats typically come in on the last day of school, Butscher said, like before summer or Spring Break.
She said if people hear of a bomb threat, they should avoid panicking.
“That’s the worst thing to do,” she said.
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 10/21/2014]
