Middle School evacuated

CENTRAL VALLEY — Just a day after a bomb scare caused the evacuation of Monroe-Woodbury High School, the Middle School was evacuated yesterday with students dismissed more than 90 minutes earlier than usual.

At 12:45 p.m. the district sent this text message to parents:

"A short time ago, a Middle School student reported to the office that a questionable statement was written of the wall of a bathroom. For precautionary reasons, we have evacuated the students. The situation is currently being investigated by law enforcement."

A follow-up text read: "At this time, we are still investigating the incident at the Middle School. Although we believe this to be a prank, our priority is the safety of our students and staff. Therefore, we believe the best course of action is to dismiss our students at this time. Middle School students will be boarding buses at the high school to take them home within the next few minutes."

A middle school student reported the following:

While at outside gym class, the gym teacher noticed high school students returning inside their building at the same time that a police car arrived on the middle school campus.

She told her students "to quickly run inside" and change as fast as they could and sit outside of the locker rooms for further instructions.

They did so, and as soon as they were dressed, the student said, the fire bell rang and the entire school followed fire drill procedures to leave the building.

They waited outside the building for about 10 minutes, according to the student. Principal John Kaste spoke to them via the public address system, telling them they were evacuating the middle school grounds and walking over to the high school.

At the high school, students were sent to the gym to wait. Kaste told the students what happened: Someone had written an inappropriate phrase on a bathroom wall causing administrators to decide to evacuate the building.

Students and faculty continued to wait in the gym.

School District Superintendent Elsie Rodriguez arrived to speak to the middle schoolers, the student said. Rodriguez told the students that "they would find whoever did this" and because of someone's foolishness, thousands of dollars are being spent for the bombing sniffing dogs and law enforcement assistance.

After more waiting, the student said, Kaste told them they were going home and would be dismissed from the high school because they weren't sure if the building was still safe to enter.

Students found their buses using the same slot numbers with faculty assisting, the student said.

As of 3 p.m., it was not known how students would retrieve the belongings they left behind in the classrooms. Students were sent home without back packs, text books and other homework materials.

- Nancy Kriz