Penn Yan Central School Superintendent Ann Orman confirmed Tuesday morning that a rash of suspicious messages has resulted in evacuations of Penn Yan School buildings March 15 and 16.
On Monday a suspicious message was found in the Penn Yan Middle School and reported to the administration. She said the middle school students were evacuated to Penn Yan Academy while a search of the building, including student lockers, was carried out by police including a New York State Police K9 trained to detect explosives.
After the middle school students were gathered in the academy a message was found on a wall in a bathroom at the academy. Orman says this message was not in an area where the middle school students were located.
The middle school and academy students were then evacuated to the elementary school gymnasium. They had lunch there and the middle school students returned to their building while the academy was searched.
Throughout the day, she contacted family members through ConnectEd telephone calls.
On Tuesday, a message was found in the Penn Yan Elementary School. The elementary children were evacuated to Penn Yan Academy and she used ConnectEd calls to notify family and the pupils returned to the elementary school by 11 a.m.
Soon after, a message was received that there was something in the academy, so academy students were evacuated to the middle school.
By 12:30 p.m. Tuesday the individual responsible for the message at the elementary school had been identified and the school officials were taking disciplinary steps, according to Orman. From a criminal standpoint, the incident is still under investigation by the Penn Yan Police Department, she noted.
Orman says some other leads are developing as students come forward with information. She spoke with students Monday before dismissal.
She said, “At no time did we feel that the safety of the students was jeopardized.”
She said additional security measures are already in place at the schools and administrators are considering other steps.
Orman is asking parents to talk with their children and encourage them to come forward with any information that might resolve the issues.
She says she has been in touch with officials in Dundee, where similar threats have resulted in new security measures, including metal detectors at the school’s main entrance. See the related story on page A3.
There have also been unconfirmed reports of a similar threat occurring at the Marcus Whitman Central School on Monday.
