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Jefferson County Schools announced Thursday afternoon that on the advice of law enforcement, it will have a virtual learning day Friday, and all school buildings will be closed.
The decision comes after threatening calls forced the county to place school buildings on lockdown two days in a row.
On Wednesday morning, Jefferson County Schools received a threat directed at Wildwood Middle School stating that bombs had been placed around the outside of the building and that the caller was in the school’s parking lot with an AR-15 rifle.
That led to all county schools being placed on secure status, while Wildwood Middle and Jefferson High School, which is located across the street from Wildwood, were placed on lockdown before being cleared by police dogs and evacuated.
“Out of an abundance of caution, and on the guidance of law enforcement, students were held inside Wildwood Middle School and evacuated once bomb dogs had cleared the entrance and parking lots,” Chuck Bishop, superintendent of Jefferson County Schools, wrote in an update released Wednesday evening. “Wildwood Middle School students and staff were transported to Sam Michaels Park, where our reunification team was ready to receive them. Students were provided meals, and reunification with families began in the early afternoon.”
Thursday morning, another threat was made against Charles Town Middle School, again requiring all schools in the county to be placed on secure or lockdown status.
Jefferson County Schools said Thursday afternoon the threat was similar to Wednesday’s call, and that a law enforcement investigation into the threats is ongoing.
“We are taking every precaution to ensure the safety of our students and staff,” the post said. “Mental health and counseling support will be available to students and staff in the coming days.”
Officials have indicated that Wednesday’s call and phone number match a threat made in the Clarksburg area earlier this week. In an update posted to their Facebook page, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said they and other law enforcement take threats against schools “extremely seriously” but that the threats did not originate locally.
“For the second day in a row, a bomb threat has been called in to one of our schools. It is believed that these threats are originating from an international number and do not possess a local perpetrator.”
West Virginia is one of a dozen states that has received hundreds of hoax threats against local schools in recent years, as such calls have risen in prevalence. Last year, an adult and a juvenile were arrested and charged with making threats of terrorist acts and conspiracy after threatening Martinsburg High School in neighboring Berkeley County.
“Over the last several years, there have been an increase in the number of swatting calls to schools. These types of hoax calls are dangerous. They create mass fear and a large law enforcement response,” the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook Wednesday evening. “In West Virginia, making a bomb threat to a school is a felony offense under WV Code §61-6-17, which deals with false reports concerning bombs or explosive devices. Violators face 1 to 3 years in a state correctional facility, fines between $100 and $2,000, or both. These types of calls can also have additional serious Federal offenses associated with them with severe penalties.”
The threats come just one week after Jefferson County conducted a test of its emergency response capabilities. The “interagency active emergency event exercise” on April 22 simulated an active shooter at Wildwood Middle School, and tested responses from the school district, the county sheriff’s office, Ranson Police, West Virginia State Police, WVU Medicine Jefferson Medical Center and Jefferson County Parks and Recreation Commission.