MOUNT CARMEL - Class will be in session today at Mount Carmel Area School District, one day after a bomb threat caused the evacuation of the elementary and junior-senior high schools and ended school early.
No one was injured and no weapons were found. Police are searching for a suspect.
"There were no bombs," said Bernard Stellar, acting superintendent.
The day-long incident, however, did cause tense moments as parents rushed to the scene, only to be kept outside school gates as administrators worked to ensure an orderly dismissal and account for students before they left the property.
The bomb threat was made from a prepaid mobile phone to the county 911 center at 10:04 a.m. Thursday, said Brian Hollenbush, Mount Carmel Township police chief.
The caller made the threat quickly before hanging up, Hollenbush said, and he did not target a specific building.
The chief notified district administration, who organized an evacuation of about 1,500 students plus district staff from both buildings.
Elementary students and personnel gathered at on-campus outdoor basketball courts. Junior-senior high school students and personnel gathered nearby on soccer fields.
The evacuation took about four minutes, Hollenbush said.
Law enforcement personnel and K-9 units did a full search of both buildings, checking classrooms, bathrooms, student lockers and more.
"There wasn't a locker that wasn't checked," Hollenbush said.
Police also checked under the vehicles that were parked on school grounds.
The scene was cleared at 2:15 p.m. and students and faculty were allowed to retrieve their vehicles, which were not permitted to leave the lots during the incident.
At that point, no one was yet allowed to re-enter the building.
With the exception of the district school board meeting Thursday night, all after-school activities were to go on as planned, Stellar said.
On-scene behavior
After the evacuation, administrators used automated telephone calls and e-mail messages to alert parents of an unspecified threat.
The alert said all students were safe and there was no need to respond to the scene. That last part was ignored by some, with upward of 500 parents gathering outside locked gates along West Fifth and South Willow streets.
Some parents remained calm and talked to students and faculty on the other side of the gate. Others were visibly upset, talking with friends or on cell phones, trying to get any information available.
Several others were belligerent, making demands, criticizing the district's response and berating district personnel. A few students were observed behaving the same way.
Overall, the arrival of parents at the scene - justified or not - seemed to cause more harm than good.
"When the parents started arriving, it was mass chaos," Hollenbush said. "The problem was when parents were arriving they wanted their kids, but we had to make sure every kid that leaves the facility was accounted for.
"This would have gone smoothly if parents didn't come in like gang busters," he said.
Stellar was also critical of the behavior of some parents, but empathized with them as a whole.
"I assured the parents that all the students were accounted for and they didn't necessarily need to come pick them up, that we would release them in an orderly fashion," Stellar said.
"I can understand they were concerned about the safety of their child," he said.
Stellar praised district staff, who he said followed an emergency plan exactly as drawn up.
Dismissal
About noon, students began to receive permission to leave campus. Junior-senior high school students were permitted to walk home.
Elementary students were bused to their normal bus stops. Students whose parents or guardians were not at the bus stop were to be returned to campus until someone arrived to pick them up.
The parents who arrived on scene were allowed to sign out their children.
Melissa Morales and Amy Fantini, neighbors who live in Mount Carmel, were at the West Fifth Street gate together. Both were waiting patiently.
Fantini was hoping to pick up her daughter, sixth-grader Tiera.
"I just want her out of the situation," she said.
Morales was waiting for her son and daughter, sixth-grader Zachary and kindergarten student Rebecka.
She was at home doing some spring cleaning when the alert came, and was dismissive of the suggestion by administration for parents to not come to the schools.
"Of course the first thing we're going to do is pick them up," she said.
Jennifer Shannon, of Kulpmont, was en route to work at Weis Markets in Coal Township when she received an alert from the district. She admitted being shaken up a bit before picking up her son, Blake, a kindergarten student.
"It's scary, especially when they tell you not to worry. Please. All the parents are here to pick them up," Shannon said.
She did note the efforts of district personnel. "They're doing the best they can," she said.
In class
Eric Filipczak, a senior, who was walking home with sophomore Stanley Stanchick and junior Sean McDonnell, spoke of the experience.
"I was in class when the alarm went off. I thought it was a drill," Filipczak said.
He spoke of exiting the school, standing around for about two hours, not being allowed to re-enter the building and not being allowed access to his car.
But, he said, "I felt safe."