IONIA, Mich. — Students at Ionia Public Schools will be back in class on Wednesday after a bomb threat prompted the district to close on Tuesday.
Michigan State Police received the threat against the high school on Sunday and notified the district. They used a K9 team and local police officers to conduct a thorough search of the high school. No bomb or other dangerous materials were found.
“We have lifted the lockdown at the high school and plan to resume classes Wednesday morning," Ionia School District Superintendent Ron Wilson said.
The threat was made through MSP's OK2SAY program which allows students the ability to notify authorities of crimes or concerns, anonymously.
RELATED: Another record number in OK2SAY tips
“We are working with law enforcement to try to ascertain the person or obtain who it was that called or made the threat," Wilson said.
After investigators searched the building, school administrators also walked through and did not notice anything suspicious or out of place.
The threat was very specific and said a bomb had been placed in a locker and would detonate at 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday.
"We would like to thank the Michigan State Police and the Ionia Department of Public Safety for their help," Wilson said.
School officials are working with MSP to identify the source of the tip. Making a false threat is a felony offense.
"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."
Since the threat was made on Sunday, many in the community wondered why authorities waited until Tuesday to investigate.
“The bigger issue had to do with the availability of dogs with the bridge-walk yesterday. The K9 units were assigned to that and given it was a holiday weekend and it made it a little bit more difficult," Wilson said. "Had we pressed them, they probably would have, but we agreed to have them come in today."
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