Guilford grade school pupil disciplined after bomb note

By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff
Jan. 30, 2008

GUILFORD — A Melissa Jones School student will be disciplined after the student left a note on a school bus that mentioned a bomb.

The bus driver found several notes, which also included what school officials called inappropriate language. Officials quickly determined that there was no threat, police and the school’s principal said.

Principal Paula McCarthy said she called police for assistance, but after looking at the notes, she was able to identify the student who wrote them.

McCarthy described the child as a “very young student.” Melissa Jones serves kindergarten through fourth-grade students.

“It was totally unfounded and there was no threat to students or staff or the school,” McCarthy said. “We just wanted to be extra careful.”

She said the school resolved the situation Friday and officials spoke to the student’s parent. The school will take disciplinary action against the student, she said.

McCarthy said she does not know of any similar incidents at Melissa Jones in the past. Last year, Guilford High School had to be evacuated several times after officials found notes with bomb threats there. Deputy Police Chief Jeff Hutchinson said Tuesday that the police department has not made any arrests related to those incidents.

Hutchinson said the police department advises the schools in bomb threat situations, and the superintendent or principal makes the decision of whether to evacuate the building.

“We rely on the school’s decision in that process — they determined that it was children’s writing; there were no specifics (in the note),” he said. “It was the end of the day, nothing happened, and it wasn’t necessary to evacuate it.”