Police look into phone threat at R-5 schools

At about 7:05 a.m., Wednesday, a threatening phone call was received by the Nevada High School. According to "School Reach," a contact system for parents, the nature of the call caused all buildings in the district to be alerted. It is speculated that the other schools in the district were notified due to the non-specific nature of the threat.

Local residents believe the call was a bomb threat; however, local authorities have not confirmed the nature of the call due to a concern that copy-cat hoaxes could occur.

Craig Noah, Nevada R-5 superintendent said that high school staff contacted the Nevada Police Department immediately after receiving the call. "We took appropriate action," said Gary Herstein, Nevada Public Safety supervisor, which included manually responding to the scene and offering their services to school staff in securing the premises.

Shortly after 8 a.m., officers present for the perimeter search were allowed to leave; however there was a police presence for the remainder of the day, as usual.

Both Noah and Herstein agreed that they were very proud of the response and co-operation between school and law enforcement officials.

"The school's internal safety officer worked well with local police," said Noah, "They did a great job."

Nevada High School principal Brien Thomsen acts as the Internal Safety Officer for the school.

According to Herstein, the call had several factors leading them to believe it was not a legitimate threat but could not go into details due to the fact that it is currently under investigation.

It is, however, believed that the call was made by a juvenile.