eymour High School dismissed early over bomb threat

By Jean Falbo-Sosnovich, The New Haven Register
SEYMOUR >> Students and staff at Seymour High School were dismissed early Wednesday following a bomb scare, which after an extensive sweep of the building turned out to be nothing.

According to Superintendent of Schools Christine Syriac, students and staff were sent home around 12:30 p.m., following discovery of a written note on a bathroom stall “indicating a bomb threat.”

“The administration followed the precautionary measures we have in place; they called the police and evacuated the building,” Syriac said. “As the weather is very cold, and it takes emergency services a period of time to assure that the building is safe for re-entry, the decision was made to send students and staff home early.”

First Selectman Kurt Miller posted a message on his Facebook page upon learning of the scare, saying the state police bomb squad was en route to secure the building.

“Seymour police, fire, and EMS are on scene as well,” Miller said. “There have been no injuries, and all the kids are safe.”

Syriac said school dismisses each day at 2 p.m. and with only an hour and a half left to the school day, coupled with the freezing temperatures, she felt it was in the best interest to let students and staff leave early.

“I didn’t want to see the kids standing outside in these freezing temperatures for an hour and a half while emergency service personnel went through the entire building,” Syriac said.

Once the note was discovered by the administration, students and staff were immediately evacuated from the building at 2 Botsford Road to a safe location.

Lt. Paul Satkowski said the state police Emergency Services Unit, with its bomb technician and dogs, along with Seymour Police and EMS, performed a sweep of the entire building and found nothing. Three dogs, trained to sniff out explosives or incendiary devices, went to work but turned up nothing in their search.

The sweep took upwards of three hours, Satkowski said, and the building was given the all-clear.

“We did not find anything, and the building has been deemed safe,” Satkowski said late Wednesday afternoon.

Satkowski said school will be in session Thursday as usual.

“The threat has been eliminated from the school,” he said. “We take every call and threat serious, and we can never be safe enough.”

Satkowski said he could not disclose exactly what was written on one of the bathroom stalls in the school, but it did indicate that “a bomb would go off at a certain time” during the school day.

Satkowski said police are investigating the incident and if the individual or individuals responsible for the threatening note are caught, “they could face sanctions” for their actions.

Anybody with information about the incident can contact the Seymour Police Department’s detective division at (203)881-7638. All calls will be kept confidential.

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http://www.nhregister.com/20131113/seymour-high-school-dismissed-early-over-bomb-threat