Another bomb threat was directed at Topsham’s Mt. Ararat Middle School Monday.
Sunday night, someone left a voicemail on a school staff member’s line saying there was a bomb in the school, according to school district interim Superintendent Heidi O’Leary. The voicemail was discovered Monday morning before students arrived and classes were canceled.
On Monday around 7 p.m., the school received another voicemail with a bomb threat, according to O’Leary. Classes were held as usual Tuesday, with Topsham police officers stationed at the middle school and Mt. Ararat High School about a half-mile away. O’Leary gave parents and guardians the option to keep their kids home from school for the day.
“We understand that these are trying circumstances, and we fully respect your role as parents and guardians in making the best decisions for your children,” O’Leary said in a phone message to parents Monday night. “Should you choose not to send your child to school tomorrow due to concerns arising from the situation, please know such absence will not be counted against them.”
Topsham police Chief Marc Hagan said officers will subpoena phone records to try to find where the calls originated. He said officers were investigating if the two bomb threats were connected to a fake report of an active shooter at Casco Bay High School in Portland Monday that caused the school to be evacuated.
Last year, a series of active shooter hoaxes were directed at 10 Maine schools, including ones in Brunswick and Wiscasset. The FBI joined the investigation; no arrests have been announced.
The hoaxes led a Cape Elizabeth lawmaker to propose a bill that became law earlier this year, making reporting such fake information to authorities a felony instead of a misdemeanor.
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