Bow Elementary School was one of at least three schools in the state Thursday that received a threat by phone.
The call to BES came in about 11 a.m., according to Bow police, around the same time that similar calls were received at Exeter High School and The Primose School day care in Bedford. Bow superintendent Dean Cascadden said the intention of the call was to evacuate the building, but there was no mention of a bomb, unlike both the Exeter and Bedford calls, according to police.
Cascadden said the school alerted Bow police and fire departments, who responded and helped search the school. BES and Bow Memorial School went into a secured campus, by limiting visitors and shutting down the perimeter for an hour. When the search revealed nothing out of the ordinary, the schools returned to normal operation, although Cascadden said students were held inside for recess.
Parents were notified of the incident through the district’s alert system. Cascadden said a secure campus is different from a lockdown in that students do not hide or follow any of the protocols schools would follow in the event of an active shooter.
Across the state, Exeter police Chief William Shupe said Exeter High School students were told to shelter in place after the call they received in the morning explicitly mentioned a device somewhere in the school. The school was put into lockdown – meaning students did not leave their classrooms, lights were shut off, and the building was kept quiet – while police searched the building. Normal activities resumed an hour later after no device was found.
The Primrose School, a private day care in Bedford, was evacuated after staff received a bomb threat at 11 a.m.. The children were taken to a neighboring facility while police searched the area, according to a Bedford police press release. Normal activities resumed when no credible threat was found.
Shupe said the call in Exeter was made by a male voice, although he said it was too soon to tell whether the call was made by an actual person and was not an automated “robocall.” While Shupe said he had not heard of any other calls being made in the state today, he said he had heard of similar calls occurring in Massachusetts.
All three incidents are under investigation, officials said.
(Caitlin Andrews can be reached at 369-3309, candrews@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @ActualCAndrews.)