Dec 19, 2016 1 min read

Security at Fort Cherry schools is heightened this week following a threat that was discovered Friday on a bathroom wall in the Junior/Senior High School.

Superintendent Jill Jacoby said in a statement administrators take “all safety concerns seriously and student safety is our number one priority.”

Students were asked not to bring backpacks when they returned to school Monday, and Jacoby said there would be a “heavy presence of local and state police” on the district’s Mt. Pleasant campus throughout the day. The district’s plan also included searches by metal detector of students entering the buildings.

Jacoby said about 40 percent of the district’s 1,100 students were absent from school Monday. She didn’t answer emailed questions about the nature of the threat. She assured parents in her statement the district was working with local and state police.

Mt. Pleasant police Chief Lou McQuillan said Monday his department was assisting with extra security and patrols.

The incident is being investigated by the district’s police department, McQuillan said. He added his department would assist if asked to do so.