Nov 6, 2014 5 min read

JEFFERSON – Jefferson-Morgan School District dismissed classes early Thursday, the third time in the last three weeks, because of a bomb threat.

Parents received an automated telephone message shortly after noon indicating classes in the middle-senior high school would be dismissed at 12:30 p.m. and in the elementary school at 1 p.m. because of “unforeseen circumstance.”

About 2 p.m., they received a second message saying students were dismissed early as a precaution because of a bomb threat in the middle-senior high school.

The message said the threat was investigated by state police and nothing was found and classes would resume on a regular schedule today.

The district also dismissed classes early Friday and Oct. 15, after threatening notes were found in the building.

A spokesman for the administration could not be reached Thursday for comment.

“We’re as frustrated as everyone else,” said board President Lisa Mattish, reached late Thursday afternoon. “We would like to see this end.”

Mattish said she didn’t know all the details of Thursday’s threat but was informed all the information, including tapes from video surveillance cameras, had been turned over to state police, which are investigating the matter.

The board has not been privy to all the information regarding the incidents for legal reasons, she said. It would be the board that would have to preside at any hearing that may involve disciplinary action against a student, she explained.

However, steps were taken to attempt to catch the person responsible for the threats. Mattish said she couldn’t comment further on the actions but emphasized the district’s main concern is the safety of the students.

The board has a building and grounds committee meeting at 5 p.m. Monday and plans to move that to the auditorium, expecting parents to attend, she said. It hopes to have a representative from the state police on hand to answer any questions.

“We know a lot of people are frustrated,” Mattish said. “We know people have had to change their schedules around because their kids are coming home early. This has been really disruptive to people’s lives.”

Parents are becoming upset about the matter and losing patience with the disruptions. A Facebook posting on the dismissal Thursday afternoon received more than 37 comments in about two hours.

“It’s a huge inconvenience,” said Sarah Snyder of Morgan Township, who works part time and whose daughter is in third grade at Jefferson-Morgan. “I wake up in the morning wondering if there is going to be school today.”

Snyder said she only received the call Thursday, shortly after noon, indicating school would be dismissed at 1 p.m. She was at work.

“It doesn’t give me much time to go get my daughter or to make sure someone is there when she gets home,” Snyder said. She said she is lucky because her sister is usually available. Her husband works shift work.

She also said she wondered why during the last two threats students were not evacuated from the school. Snyder said when her sister picked up her daughter Thursday the students were in the building. The same was true Friday.

“Why they are doing that, I don’t know,” she said.

Juliann Cernuska of Jefferson, the mother of an eighth-grade student, said the repeated bomb threats are “beyond acceptable.” Cernuska addressed the board about the matter at its last meeting, after the first threat.

“One, you say OK, it’s an isolated incident, but when you have one a week it’s getting to the point of being ridiculous,” she said.

When she received a telephone call about the threat Friday, Cernuska said, she was about 45 minutes away and couldn’t make it home in time to be there when her son came home. She said her husband had to leave work early.

“My first concern is safety. You get worried when you get a call from the school saying there’s a potential bomb threat,” she said. “This is not a high school prank,” she said. “When you threaten someone’s safety, that’s not a prank.”

Cernuska said she can’t understand why someone has not been caught.

She said she also is concerned because of the early dismissals her son is losing valuable instructional time. “How is my son going to make up the instructional time,” she asked. “Yet, he will be expected to perform well on the subsidized tests,” she said.

The district also had two bomb threats in May, at the end of the last school year.