Bomb threat clears Allentown High School

Unspecified Monmouth County school targetted.

By: Cynthia Koons
   UPPER FREEHOLD — A bomb threat on April 2 triggered a countywide evacuation of high schools, including Allentown High School, where students stood outside the building from 12:30 p.m. until the conclusion of the school day.
   Students and staff were evacuated from the building to the fields behind the school where they remained until buses arrived for dismissal.
   Local and county police arrived at the scene while firefighters from Hope Fire Co. searched the roof of the building. Dogs from the canine unit sniffed for bomb materials on school grounds. None was found.
   Superintendent Bob Connelly said he learned of the bomb threat while in a meeting with law enforcement, coincidentally.
   He was in a meeting with the county prosecutor’s office at the time the call came in from police, and county school administrators were advised to evacuate their high schools. He said the threat was not site specific but instead referred to a nameless Monmouth County high school.
   Calls this week to county investigators regarding the incident were not returned before deadline.
   "The second half of the meeting was a discussion of emergency management plans," he said.
   Allentown High School has an emergency response manual for incidents such as bomb threats which staff followed in the evacuation process, he said.
   Social studies teacher Judy Briar said the staff was instructed via e-mail how to handle the evacuation.
   "We were told to read an e-mail (around 12:15 p.m.), which told us how to evacuate the school," she said. "I had no other information until I talked with security who said that there was a bomb threat. The students evacuated very orderly."
   Dr. Connelly commended the police work during the bomb scare, saying they did a "fine job."
   At the end of the day, he said, the law enforcement gave clearance for students and staff to return to the building before dismissal.
Special writer Laura Szalaj contributed to this story.