Ludlow High School and East Street Elementary School were evacuated on Friday, May 29 at 1:35 p.m. after receiving “low risk” bomb threats.
Ludlow High School’s main office received a phone call from a male who is believed to be between 20 and 30 years old, according to Principal Lisa Nemeth. The caller said, “There is a bomb in the building, you have 35 minutes to get out.”
Students and staff were immediately evacuated from the building after the fire alarm had been pulled. No one was allowed back into the building. Students who were getting picked up or driving home were sent to the tennis courts and people who were taking the bus were directed to the Veteran’s Park bus loop.
“I wasn’t sure if walking to Vets was a safe idea,” said sophomore Dakota Guzik, “Everyone was a little confused about it.”
This bomb threat was named a low risk threat. According to the Massachusetts Bomb Threat Response Guide low risk threats are threats that lack realism and pose a minimum risk to the victim and/or public safety. The probable motive for this act is to cause disruption.
Shortly after 1:55 staff was instructed to go back inside and search their classrooms for anything unusual.
“I wasn’t surprised that we had to go back into the building to search,” said teacher Jennifer Ollquist,” I felt that we were prepared to deal with a situation like this after all the training we’ve had.”
The school was cleared by police personnel at 3:00 p.m. Students and faculty were allowed back into the school to retrieve their belongings from 3:30 p.m. until 4:30 p.m that day.
“It was a little scary going back inside the school,” explained sophomore Marisa Lombardi. “My classroom looked eerie with everyone’s stuff just where they had left it.”
This is Ludlow’s first bomb threat this year, but according to administrators the school was prepared. LHS Principal Lisa Nemeth, Officer Lee, Captain Pees, and Lieutenant Valadas were trained for bomb threats in the beginning of the year.
“The staff was very professional,” said Nemeth, “The collaboration between the police, fire department, and staff was exceptional.”
The caller has still not been identified.