IONIA, Mich. — The Labor Day holiday is over and Tuesday many students are going back to school. Except for children in Ionia. Their classes are canceled.
Michigan State Police received the threat against Ionia High School on Sunday through a special school tip service and notified the district. The threat said a bomb had been planted in a locker at the high school and was set to detonate Tuesday morning.
"The threat was very specific - it said there is a a bomb in a locker at the high school and is set to go off on 10:15 on Tuesday morning," Wilson said. "The high school will remain on lockdown until they conduct the search.
Michigan State Police said they would use K9 units to search the high school Tuesday morning.
“I felt they should have handled it right away,” says Hester Brown. “Not wait a day later or so to do it.”
“They should probably have checked on it so the kids could have school,” adds Ricki Gallagher.
Ionia students went back to school on Aug. 21, but they were off Friday and Monday for the holiday weekend.
Because of the threat, all the schools in the district will be closed Tuesday as a precaution. Wilson said the decision to close the entire district is also practical because with the high school close, the student population would drop below 25 percent, meaning the state wouldn't count it as an official school day.
The day off to investigate the bomb threat will be subtracted from the district's allowance of snow days.
“Given the level of violence we have seen in this country we have to take these threats very seriously,” says Wilson.
Making a false threat is a crime.
"If somebody actually put a bomb in the high school, obviously that would be a serious crime, but it's important for parents to remind kids that making a threat is also serious - it's a felony," Wilson said. "It's not to be toyed with."
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