Hillsboro Junior High School students were evacuated from the building this morning (Sept. 13), after a threatening message was found written in a restroom stall.
“(The message) was found this morning,” assistant superintendent Jon Isaacson said. “The message threatened to blow up the school.”
After the school was searched and no bombs were found, students returned to the Junior High, 12 Hawk Drive, at about 1:30 p.m. The school has 575 students, Isaacson said.
When the threatening message was found, staff immediately jumped to action, contacting law enforcement and evacuating students, he said.
“We’re always going to err on the side of caution,” Isaacson said. “The students were taken (walked) to the Intermediate School. They were able to feed them there. They went to the playground. As it got hot (outside), some students went in the cafeteria and some went in the south gym.”
Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Gary Higginbotham said bomb-sniffing dogs from the Sheriff’s Office, the St. Louis County Police Department and the St. Louis Lambert International Airport were brought to the Junior High to help with the search.
He said there are no suspects.
“The investigation is ongoing,” Higginbotham said.
Isaacson praised the response from school personnel, law enforcement and Hillsboro city government.
“Everyone just stepped together in the Hillsboro community,” he said. “The Hillsboro city administrator (Jesse Wallis) offered up his workers – how could he help?”
Anyone with information about the threat is urged to call the Sheriff’s Office at 636-797-5515.