Greenon students sent home after bomb threat

Sheriff’s deputies and bomb-sniffing dogs from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the Dayton International Airport were called to the school just before 10 a.m.

Investigators found no signs of a bomb inside the school after a sweep, and the threat was determined to be unsubstantiated, sheriff’s deputies said.

Detectives continue to look into who left the note in the bathroom, Melchi said.

All students were evacuated from the school and sent to the football field, sheriff’s deputies said.

Because of the timing of the evacuation interfering with the lunch schedule, school officials wrote on the district’s Facebook page that students were going to be sent home for the day.

“This is very serious,” Melchi said about the threat and the disruption it caused in the school day.

“We’ve seen a large increase in the threats at the school this year,” he said.

The student found responsible for the note that prompted the evacuation will face criminal charges, the detective said.

“People need to understand these are felony charges that will be brought on them, and the courts are prosecuting them to the fullest extent on these charges as well,” Melchi said.

The Clark County Sheriff’s Office recently added a third school resource officer in the county, said Sheriff Gene Kelly, partly in response to a rash of threats made at schools.

In late February into early March, sheriff’s deputies responded to several threats at Tecumseh Middle School, 10000 E. National Road.

The threats prompted lockdowns at the school at least four times.

In January, school leaders from several Clark County schools, including Greenon, Clark-Shawnee and Northeastern schools, met to discuss the ways their districts respond to bomb threats and to see if changes can or should be made.

Clark County schools were evacuated, delayed or closed eight times in 2015 in response to threats made against the school, sheriff’s investigators said.

Thursday’s threat was the first time Greenon High School had been evacuated in response to a potential hazard in the current school year.