2 bomb scares rattle West Chester schools

A pair of bomb scares emptied West Chester Area School district hallways on Wednesday and Thursday.

Threats left on tile bathroom walls were discovered by school staffers at Henderson and East high schools. Nothing was discovered and classes soon resumed.

The first threat was discovered by an East High School staffer just before 2 p.m. Wednesday.

The note, written on a Post-it note, read, “There will be a bomb in the building at 11:50,” according to WCASD Superintendent Dr. Jim Scanlon.

Students safely caught buses home as police with dogs searched the building for two and a half hours. Afternoon and evening programs at East and Fugett Middle School were cancelled.

Scanlon notified parents via email that there would be a heightened police presence at the school Thursday morning.

Students attended homeroom at 7:30 a.m., after turning in their backpacks for a search by police dogs that lasted until 9 a.m.

Henderson High School students waited outside at the school’s football stadium from 10:30 a.m. until 12:15 p.m. after a second bathroom missive was spotted, this time the word bomb was misspelled.

“The kids were cold but they were safe,” Scanlon said. “It was not a credible threat, but with the anxiety in this world you have to go through with protocol.”

Scanlon communicated several times with parents and students via email. The following is a Thursday email sent to the entire district:

“The bomb-sniffing dogs have completed their search, this time including student backpacks, and found no evidence of any explosive device in East High School or Fugett Middle School this morning. This was the next step in our safety protocol to address the note that was written in pencil on the wall in a bathroom stall yesterday indicating there will be a bomb in school on December 7.

“This protocol was in place yesterday, but due to safety and security reasons, we were unable to communicate this to you last night.

“We are planning to structure the rest of the day as normal as possible, and we do plan to conduct after school and evening activities.

“Please know that we take safety very seriously and communicate closely with police to protect the safety of our staff and students. Thank you to the West Goshen police department and Chester County Sheriff’s office for their assistance.

We will work to find the student(s) responsible for this threat. We will not tolerate this kind of behavior in our school.”