Classes resume at Fulton High School following unfounded threat

Classes resumed at Fulton High School Thursday morning after word of a bomb threat proved unfounded.

At 7:23 this morning, a person called the ABC17 Newsroom saying a bomb threat was made last week against the school and today was the date the threat was to have been carried out.

An ABC17 News employee called the Fulton School District to inquire if officials had received any new credible threats. The staffer spoke first to a receptionist who then transferred the call to the media relations office and finally on to Fulton Superintendent, Dr. Jacque Cowherd.

ABC17 informed Superintendent Cowherd of the call received and asked if he could confirm if there was any credible bomb threat made against the school district. During the process of asking that question, our employee says Cowherd asked if ABC17 News had called police. He was informed that we were also on the phone with Fulton Police at that time inquiring the same of that agency.

After ABC17 News inquired as to whether or not the school had received a threat, the school evacuated students to the football field at approximately 8:00 this morning.

A Fulton School District spokesperson told us a little before 9:00 today there was no threat and everyone is back in the building.

Fulton police also confirmed that a student was overheard making a threat last week and that was thoroughly investigated.

The district also released the following email to parents through Director of Community Relations Karen Snethen’s office. It contains points we’ve put in bold type that ABC17 believes to be in error.

Subject: Fulton High School Bomb Threat

Good Morning,

As many of you are aware, there was a bomb threat called into KMIZ-TV this morning regarding Fulton High School.The call was made by a patron who saw multiple police cars at FHS this morning.FPS increased security this morning as a result of the incident last week where December 17 was mentioned as a possible date for a bomb at FHS.KMIZ will be reporting their error.The important piece is that everyone is and was safe the entire time.

As soon as we received the information, all students and staff were evacuated. The evacuation site was deemed safe by the Fulton Police Department. Authorities then made a thorough sweep of Fulton High School to make sure it was safe for students and staff to return. Dr. Jacque Cowherd said, “The students and staff at Fulton High School were phenomenal in their execution of our emergency procedures. The building was evacuated quickly and flawlessly. Assistant Principal, Kati Boland, was wonderful in this situation.”

If you have any questions or concerns, please call 573-590-8000.

Karen Snethen

Director of Community Relations

Point 1:As many of you are aware, there was a bomb threat called into KMIZ-TV this morning regarding Fulton High School.

ABC17 News did not call in a bomb threat. ABC17 News called to ask if the district had received any credible threats and asked if Superintendent Cowherd could confirm or deny any such threats.

Point 2: The call was made by a patron who saw multiple police cars at FHS this morning.

This is not a piece of information that ABC17 News gave to school administrators.

Point 3:KMIZ will be reporting their error.

There will be times when ABC17 News regrettably makes an error. This is not one of them. We receive dozens of calls, emails and other forms of contact about potentially news items. We consider them carefully and investigate judiciously. That was the approach we took this morning. We simply asked the question of whether or not the district could confirm or deny any credible bomb threats had been made against the district.

We stand by our process of discovery and investigation and will continue to do so. We also look forward to a conversation with Superintendent Cowherd about today’s sequence of events in order to make sure lines of communication are clear, what protocols the district has to guide them on decisions made concerning threats made against the school district and when the decision to evacuate is given.