Penns Valley students briefly evacuated after threat found written on school wall
Officials at Penns Valley Elementary and Intermediate School briefly ordered an evacuation Tuesday morning in response to a threat.
At about 10 a.m., school officials received a report of a “non-specific” threat corroborated by a school police officer, Penns Valley Superintendent Brian Griffith told the Centre Daily Times. As a precaution, the school’s students between kindergarten and sixth grade were evacuated across the street to the high school gymnasium.
The district contacted the Pennsylvania State Police, who brought a K-9 unit to help search for any threat of an explosive. They cleared the school around noon, Griffith said.
Evacuated students received their lunches at the high school, and students in the fifth and sixth grades stayed over to watch a roughly 30-minute play put on by high school students, the superintendent said.
The superintendent praised building staff and emergency officials for their assistance Tuesday morning while responding to the reported threat.
“Unfortunately, we practice these types of things, but our staff did an incredible job of evacuating this building, really, in minutes and getting our students to a location that was safe,” Griffith said. “The police, state police, were incredibly responsive and helpful. The support of emergency personnel is always appreciated.”
Griffith said school dismissal and all after-school activities will proceed as planned.
This is a breaking news story. It may receive additional updates as more information becomes available.
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