DOWNS - Tri-Valley schools were locked down for almost three hours Tuesday morning after an empty ammunition clip was found on a school bus, but they are expected to operate normally today. | Photo gallery

"At no point in time were any students in imminent danger," Superintendent Brad Cox said at a news conference after the lockdown ended.

Police questioned the child who brought the clip onto the bus, and the minor will be subject to school discipline, McLean County State's Attorney Bill Yoder said.

"This was a very innocent mistake," Cox said, declining to elaborate.

A bus driver found the clip on a school bus and reported it between 8:15 and 8:30 a.m. All three schools were locked down and the students accounted for within eight minutes, Cox said.

All three schools were affected by the lockdown because students attending the elementary, middle and high school on the campus in Downs ride the same school buses, Cox said.

Downs police and McLean County sheriff's deputies arrived within minutes. About a dozen officers from the two departments were present at the height of the incident, McLean County Sheriff Mike Emery said.

School dismissed at its regular time at 3:15 p.m., and students went home on buses as usual.

During the incident, a handful of parents waited in the elementary and middle school parking lots for more information. Others called the schools when they read about the lockdown on the Internet.

The Tri-Valley lockdown, which affected 1,100 students, was the third school lockdown in three weeks in Central Illinois. Guns were found Aug. 28 at Pontiac Township High School, and a bomb threat was found Sept. 5 at Dwight Township High School.

Initially, police and Tri-Valley school officials declined to identify the item found on the school bus.

Parent Jack Dyse said he didn't object to the lockdown, but he was frustrated that the school wouldn't release details to parents.

"I get a little upset that they won't tell us anything," said Dyse, who chose to pick up his children, a first-grader and a third-grader, at the elementary school as soon as the lockdown ended.

He said his children rode the bus on which the ammunition clip was found, and that was part of the reason he wanted to take them home himself on Tuesday.

When his son asked why police were at his school, Dyse said, "We'll talk on the way home."

At 3 p.m. Tuesday, about 15 minutes before students left the school at the usual dismissal time, McLean County State's Attorney Bill Yoder announced the item was an ammunition clip.

"At no time were any children in risk of harm," Yoder said.

Emery said before any Tri-Valley student was interviewed, parents first were contacted to grant permission. The parent was given the opportunity to be present for the interview, he said.

However, some students did have less formal interaction with police without parental notification, he said.

Both Emery and Cox said the "Code Red" lockdown went very smoothly. They attributed it in part to months of training that police and school administrators have undertaken.

"I was very pleased the way we handled this. Parents should be grateful," Emery said of the action the school district took.

The lockdown ended at the elementary school first. It ended last at the high school, about 11:45 a.m.

Parents of preschoolers were allowed to pick up their children at the school as usual about 10:50 a.m.

"We came to get them and lined up where we always do," parent Tabitha Beneke said. Other than a police officer standing at the door, the pickup went as usual.

Among the first parents to enter the elementary school after the lockdown was a mother with a tray of cupcakes for her child's class.

"What a day to have a birthday," she said, pointing out her child was born Sept. 11, 2001.

Students told about situation

Students were informed about what prompted the lockdown, but they weren't given details about the object found by the bus driver, Cox said.

No assembly or special meetings were planned for today, he said.

Tri-Valley sophomore Michael Kletz, 16, left the high school after the lockdown ended about 11:45 a.m.

He usually attends the Bloomington Vocational Center, but missed his class Tuesday because of the lockdown.

"We watched a movie. We really didn't do anything. We just sat there," he said.

He said it wasn't frightening.

Almost a year ago, a threat on a restroom wall at the high school prompted a lockdown in which high school students were evacuated to the middle school.

This time students stayed in their own schools and resumed classes as soon as the all-clear sign was given.