Bomb threat prompts evacuations of all schools within Freedom Area School District

All three schools on Freedom Area School District’s campus were given an all clear Monday afternoon after an hours-long bomb scare.

An email with a “nondescript bomb threat” was sent to High School Principal Steven Mott around 11 a.m. Monday.

“It’s ridiculous,” said Nicolette Holzer, parent of a first grader.

That’s how many parents were feeling as they stood in line to pick up their kids. At first, only the high school was evacuated.

“All the high school kids were telling their parents and everything, they were alerting them, and when I called the elementary, they said not to worry about it, not to come,” Holzer said.

Police said that quickly changed.

“Because it was received by the high school principal, that’s the first building we evacuated,” said New Sewickley Police Chief Greg Carney. “As we moved through and moved forward, we did evacuate the other two buildings on campus.”

The district called and emailed parents telling them they could line up outside of the stadium with their ID to pick up their child for the day.

“I just want to get my kids now and get them out of here,” said Sara Cogis, parent of a first and third grader.

New Sewickley Police, Beaver Valley Regional Police, Allegheny County Sheriff’s Deputies, and Beaver County Sheriff’s Deputies were on scene.

Pittsburgh Police and University of Pittsburgh police were called for their bomb sniffing dogs. Eight K-9s were used to clear the buildings, Carney said.

The Beaver County District Attorney told Channel 11 the FBI is working to trace the email.

Even though nothing was found, Carney said he’s glad the threat was taken seriously.

“You can’t not take it seriously,” he said. “You have to take every precaution you can to make sure the kids are safe.”

Some parents were frustrated with how the dismissal was handled.

“I feel like this situation is even scarier, having a lot of people here line up, and if there’s a potential bomb, I don’t know that it’s the safest,” said Chelsae Kaclik, parent of a kindergartner.

Carney said police and the district had this plan in place if there was ever a bomb threat, and it was handled well.

He said there are things they can improve but didn’t get into specifics.

“That’s something we need to sit down and look at both, as law enforcement and the school district, to determine what we can do better, and how we can do it better,” Carney said. “There’s always room for improvement.”

Carney said school will resume as normal in the Freedom Area School District on Tuesday.

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