Great Falls Public Schools and the Great Falls Police Department were made aware of a threat made by email that was sent to numerous individuals, including administration and Board members of school districts across Montana Tuesday evening at approximately 8:30 PM.
“We are in communication with our partners in law enforcement at the state and local level,” stated Superintendent Thomas Moore in a press release. “This threat is not believed to be credible, and Great Falls Public Schools plans to continue with our regular school schedule at this time. There will be an increased law enforcement presence in place in and around our schools that guides our response in the event of a threat. The safety of our school communities is our No. 1 priority.”
Levi Collins, Superintendent of Cascade Schools, was contacted on Tuesday evening by a school board member who received an email of a bomb threat for the school. “I contacted some of the school administrative team to discuss the situation and make a plan,” stated Levi Collins in a press release. “Based on the information we had at that time, we decided the best option was to cancel school until law enforcement had a chance to review the evidence and recommend how to proceed.”
“While the threat seemed like it had a high likelihood of being a hoax, we decided that we would not take this threat lightly when all of our kids in the community were involved in the situation,” continued Levi Collins. “We decided to cancel school around 9:00 pm as we did not know how long it would take to investigate the situation and we wanted to get the message out before bedtime or early enough so people could make alternative plans for the following day.”
On January 17th, around 1:30 AM, law enforcement and K9 units checked the interior and exterior of the school for any evidence of bomb-related material. The K9 unit did not find any evidence of a bomb or any material for making one. They will eventually check all schools that received the threat just to be sure, but it is more likely than not a hoax across the whole state.
Cascade Schools will remain closed for normal operations on January 17th for logistical reasons. The building has been cleared, however, so normal operations will resume on the 18th.
Author: Karen Anderson
Karen is the Editor-in-Chief overseeing all news operations at Foxys Publishing Co. She also loves photography and spending time with her dogs.
