Officials from the Police and Education Departments are continuing to investigate a bomb threat that was made early Monday morning against St. Croix’s John H. Woodson Junior High, but fortunately the threat appears to have been a hoax.
According to Education officials, the first threat was phoned into the Police Department around 7 a.m. Monday, and while police were responding, Woodson Principal Vaughn Hewitt said a second bomb threat call was made.
Students and staff evacuated the school while the VIPD canine unit and other agencies searched the grounds.
Students, faculty and staff remained near the Alfredo Andrews Elementary School campus until police issued the “all clear,” and Hewitt said once the students were back on campus around 9:30 a.m., they were given breakfast before being sent back to their classrooms.
“I would definitely like to commend both the staff and the students who were here at the time for knowing what they need to do, and working efficiently and calmly to handle the situation,” Hewitt said in the release from Education.
“However, we basically wasted half the day dealing with this threat and it is important that we come down heavily on those individuals that are responsible – those individuals who, this morning, interrupted our students’ learning and put their safety at risk,” Hewitt continued.
Education Commissioner LaVerne Terry and St. Croix Superintendent Gary Molloy commended the staff at Woodson and the V.I. Police Department for their quick response, and called on the community to provide any information they might have about this incident to the proper authorities.
