MONROE, Mich. — Monroe Middle school remained closed Thursday after a bomb threat was found inside a school bathroom a day earlier.
Andrew Shaw, the school's superintendent, stood in the empty halls of the middle school Thursday morning and reflected on the recent incident.
"What happened yesterday is a big deal," Shaw said. "We had students scared, staff scared and put in a situation that they should never have to be put into."
Shaw said the incident first began the morning of Nov. 30 around 11:15 a.m., when the note in question was found by a student and quickly taken to school leaders. Principal Sarah Staten said as soon as they were made aware, they acted as quickly as possible.
"We cooperated with our school resource officer to make an initial assessment to determine what the best course of action would be, and ultimately determined we needed to evacuate students to a safe nearby location," Staten said.
Students were moved to the football field and then eventually bussed away.
Meanwhile, Michigan State Police and the Monroe Police Department searched the building thoroughly with bomb-sniffing dogs, checking floor by floor.
"We didn't find any incendiary devices, no bombs, nothing of that nature inside the building," Monroe's safety director, Chad Tolstedt, said.
As soon as the building was determined to be safe, the school and police alike switched gears, now looking for whoever wrote the threat and why. Shaw said Monroe schools and investigators are narrowing down suspects using security camera video from the school.
"That's what we're really trying to uncover is the why. So we're going through the video, looking at all ways of who this could have been," Shaw said.
There are no suspects, but Shaw said he expects to have answers within the next 36 to 48 hours.
Shaw said procedures are in place so that as soon as the student is found, they will meet with the board of education and likely face expulsion and criminal charges.
Staten tells me trauma care workers will be available for students coming into school on Friday affected by the events. She says despite the initial shock, she believes students and staff will be able to rise above this incident.
"It's unfortunate we had a member of our school community who made a threat against the school, but that's not who our student body is," Staten said. "They showed a lot of Trojan pride yesterday and we're excited to see them tomorrow."