Update 11:38AM All Clear - Based on the receipt of a bomb threat earlier this morning at our middle school and Florence Roche campus, and through a joint effort of the Groton Police Department, the Dunstable Police Department, the State Police, Groton Fire, and Dunstable Fire the Middle School and Florence Roche campus has been swept. They indicate there is no evidence of a bomb and the police are saying the campus is safe for our return. Police will have an active presence on campus for the remainder of the day, just to allay concerns.
We have district staff and police onsite at Nissitissit actively reunifying the parents who arrived there for their children. This will take some time due to the volume of parents present. Once that process is complete, all other students will be transported back to campus and will go home on their normal bus route at the end of the day.
Due to the evacuation process, we are canceling afternoon kindergarten at Florence Roche. For any students in morning kindergarten who have not been picked up, will keep the morning kindergarten students with us all day. The school will be in touch later today for those remaining students.
We are very grateful for the immediate response by our public safety officials and staff in both towns. Kudos to our students and staff for being so cooperative in this process. Thanks also to the parents for their patience and participation. We are very grateful to the High School for hosting the Florence Roche evacuation and then to North Middlesex Public Schools for hosting us during our reunification process. We are grateful to Dee Bus for being partners in this evacuation process.
As a follow up, the building principals will meet with students and counselors will be available to address any concerns students may have when all are back at school tomorrow.
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Original Post – At 8:30 am, the middle school received a recorded message indicating a bomb threat. Immediately, the school notified our safety coordinator, Karen Tuomi, and our Resource Officer, Rachael Mead. The district has been working directly with the Groton Police Department since this notification. Through this coordination, the middle school and the Florence Roche School were evacuated. Students driving in to Florence Roche on the bus were redirected to the high school. The middle school students were evacuated to Legion Hall (MS).
According to our plan, the students are being evacuated to Nissitissit Middle School (33 Chace Ave, Pepperell, MA) as a reunification site with parents. Parents are not required to pick students up at this point but are welcome to do so.
It has recently come to our attention that similar messages are being received by other schools throughout the state. The students will stay offsite while the police work at the school site. The district is taking direction from the police department about next steps and will be in touch as soon as we have more information to share.