Old Town school bomb scares investigated

OLD TOWN – Students at Old Town High School were sent home Thursday morning after the second bomb threat there in two days.

Superintendent Owen Maurais said the 11:35 a.m. release of students was coordinated with Old Town police. “We deemed it appropriate to send students home,” he said. According to an Old Town High School faculty member, faculty and administrators were released along with students, who were instructed to leave immediately without going to lockers. Maurais said no device was found in the school and the threat is under active investigation. “We are working with police and working to apprehend whoever is responsible,” he said.

In light of the investigation, Old Town police Sgt. Travis Roy could release little information about the incident Thursday, except to say that a suspicious statement was found on a bathroom wall.

Students also were evacuated Wednesday afternoon, gathering on the Old Town football field before returning to class.

Maurais declined to comment further on either case but would like to assure parents and the public that the school “has involved the police in all aspects” of the threats and subsequent investigation.

Old Town High School classes were scheduled to resume their normal schedule Friday morning.

The Old Town school system dealt with a bomb threat at the J.A. Leonard Middle School in June 1999 that resulted in the arrest of an eighth-grade student. No device was discovered in that incident.

Many other Maine schools have received bomb threats since the start of 2001, including the Madawaska Middle/High School; Camden Hills Regional High School; Hermon Elementary School; SeDoMoCha Middle School in Dover-Foxcroft; and the Lewis S. Libby School in Milford. Arrested students faced multiple counts of terrorizing, a Class C felony, as well as expulsion from school.