Parents lined up outside the gates of the Columbus High School football field this morning, waiting to pick their children up following the fourth bomb threat of the school year and the third in a little more than a month.
In the last incident, which occurred Feb. 22, school was dismissed early, and a juvenile purported to attend CHS was arrested later that evening.
But if the culprit behind this morning’s incident hoped to spend the sunny day free of teachers and books, CHS Principal Scott Hallmark put a kink in that plan when he decided, once the school was cleared of the threat, classes would resume. The call came in to 911 around 8:30 a.m. and Hallmark told parents he expected students to be back in class by 10:30 a.m.
Students were taking common assessment tests in biology today in preparation for state exams, and Hallmark said although parents were welcome to pick up their children after 10:30 a.m., he encouraged them to let them finish out the school day.
“If we continue to allow dismissals like this, this is going to continue,” he said.
A groan went up from the student body — around 1,300 pupils — when Hallmark made the announcement over the loudspeaker. He said because the state board of education requires each student receive a specific number of hours of classroom instruction, the days must be made up by tacking extra days onto the end of the school year.
Many of those gathered outside the gate were dressed in work clothes, called away from their own duties and responsibilities.
Alisha Colvin was in class at East Mississippi Community College when her sister, Tyesha Colvin, called to say she needed a ride home, because there had been another bomb threat.
“They’re probably happy they get to get out of school; it’s still ridiculous though,” Colvin, a business major at EMMC, said.
Tony Proctor, executive associate pastor at First United Methodist Church in downtown Columbus, had to miss a staff meeting in order to rush to the school to pick up his son and daughter. He was getting ready for work when he got the call. He said the bomb threats have become irritating, both for him and his children, who would prefer to be in class.
“They’re annoyed by it because it’s a disruption to what they’re doing,” he said. “My son, particularly, is affected by it a great deal.”
The high school also had bomb threats Jan. 27, Feb. 16 and once in September.
Each time, bomb-sniffing dogs searched the premises, but no explosive devices were found.
A 17-year-old student was arrested in connection with Feb. 16 bomb threat.
Callers who place threats face legal ramifications. The maximum penalty for a false bomb threat is 10 years in the Mississippi Department of Corrections and a $10,000 fine.
In September, Lowndes County sheriff’s deputies, in conjunction with U.S. Marshals, arrested three juveniles in connection with a bomb threat at New Hope High School and Columbus Middle School.
New Hope had two threats this school year — one in September and January — and Columbus Middle School had one threat in September. No explosive devices were discovered at any of the schools.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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