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NewsFriday, September 7, 2007 11:34 PM CDT
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Security to stay tight at Dwight high school
By Phyllis Coulter
pcoulter@pantagraph.com
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DWIGHT — Police will continue to check backpacks, purses and book bags as students enter Dwight Township High School next week.

The procedure started Wednesday after a bomb threat was found at the school. The high school was evacuated and searched while the junior high and elementary schools were locked down.

Classes resumed Thursday with heightened security.

Police and school officials met Friday to work out plans for the next week.

“We will continue to have presence of police to make sure Dwight Township High School is a safe learning environment,” Dwight Police Chief Tim Henson said.

“We will continue to reassess daily and make decisions how long the police presence should remain,” he said.

The school and police held two public meetings Thursday for parents and the community to update how the situation was being handled.

The 15-year-old boy accused of leaving the bomb threat on a calculator display screen remains in custody at the McLean County Juvenile Detention Center in Normal. He was charged as a juvenile with falsely making a terrorist threat, a Class 1 felony, and disorderly conduct, a Class C misdemeanor.

The police search turned up nothing suspicious, officials said.

Henson said everyone’s goal is to make the school safe and secure while getting the school and community back to normal as soon as possible.

Both Thursday and Friday, six to 10 officers from the Dwight Police Department and Livingston County Sherriff’s Department were on campus, Henson said.

The focus of the effort is on when staff and students arrive. Carried items, including book bags, lunch boxes and purses, are checked. A hand-held metal detector also has been used, Henson said.

The school administration and police plan to do a complete review of the entire process of how the threat and its aftermath were handled, Henson said.

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Reader comments on this story - 1 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

JD wrote on Sep 8, 2007 12:40 PM:

" Since this was a verified prank, I fail to see the logic of a continued increased police presence like this. It is take officers from other duties to secure an area which we now know was never at risk in the first place. It is a total over reaction. "
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