McNaughton High School: Two arrested for bomb hoax
May 1, 2012, 3:04 am
Kara Kinna
Two 15-year-old girls have been arrested in connection with a bomb hoax that led to McNaughton High School being closed last Thursday and Friday.
At approximately 12:10 p.m. on Thursday, Moosomin RCMP were notified that a note had been found in the high school taped to a bathroom door. “There is a bomb in the school. You got 24 hours to find it. Good luck,” the note read.
The school was evacuated over the noon hour, and was locked down. RCMP, with help from the Moosomin Fire Department, barricaded the streets around the school for safety reasons, and MacLeod Elementary School and the nearby daycare were also evacuated, while residents near the school were notified of the potential threat.
The RCMP Explosives Unit was called in and a Police Dog Services Member was called in with a bomb sniffing dog in order to do a sweep of the school.
Cpl Andrew Dolman says it wasn’t until late on Thursday night when the RCMP received a tip with information confirming that the note was a hoax, leading to the arrest of two 15-year-old students at the school. He says the incident is still under investigation.
Dolman says that the RCMP must treat incidents like this seriously until it is determined there is no threat.
“Everything is treated as real until we can determine that it is not,” he says. “You can’t take a chance that it is not.”
Dolman says that threats such as these cost money and take up time and resources, and are disruptive to the community.
Marc Casavant, Director of Education with the South East Cornerstone School Division, says this is not the first time the school division has dealt with a bomb threat, although it is new for Moosomin.
“It is certainly new for your area,” says Casavant. “We have had a couple of incidents at the Estevan Comp. (Comprehensive High School). We have put some security cameras in place there, and that certainly has helped.”
Casavant says all bomb threats are taken seriously, even if the RCMP and School Division suspect it is a hoax.
“Any time the administration of the school or a teacher would find a note (like this) we take it very seriously,” he says. “The first order of priority when a threat comes forward is to call the RCMP and notify them and immediately activate a lockdown or evacuation of the school.
“There’s an administrative procedure for cases like this that walks us through the different steps.”
He said the school remained closed Friday as a precaution.
“Based on the recommendation of the RCMP for safety, we wanted to make sure the explosives disposal unit was able to complete the sweep of the building,” he said. “They felt with the charges being laid it was definitely a hoax, but unfortunately a lot of resources have been tied up in making a response to this.”
Casavant says the school division will have to decide what kind of discipline may be taken against the students who pulled the hoax in Moosomin.
“It is very unfortunate that students pull such pranks,” he says. “We’ve got a policy that deals with threat risk situations. We have a committee to come together to look at the behavior of students and look at discipline.
“I think it makes people uncomfortable. People get angry that people would do this. It is very unfortunate, and it creates a fear and scare factor that is certainly not warranted.
“We appreciate the RCMP’s help in this. They have been very helpful in working alongside us, and they deserve to be commended.”
