MONROE - Classes proceeded mostly as usual at Monroe High School on Monday in spite of an anonymous email Sunday that threatened the school.
The threat, delivered to MHS students and staff through a student's school email account Sunday evening, expressed a desire to blow up the school and warned that the sender would be "bringing a suprise" (sic) to the school Thursday or possibly earlier.
Monroe Police Chief Fred Kelley said the student's email account was likely hacked. Police are following several leads regarding the sender's identity, but Kelley said it would be premature to comment on the nature of the leads.
Kelley said the police department treated the threat as genuine, as it does with all threats.
"Any time there's a threat to a building, or a home or a person, we treat it as legitimate," Kelley said. "It's the only way to put the safety of the students and the faculty first."
The school was swept Sunday night and deemed safe to open Monday morning. Police searched students and their belongings for weapons upon arrival at school Monday, according to a statement from Monroe School District Superintendent Cory Hirsbrunner. Police officers remained at the school throughout the day.
Kelley said there would be a heightened police presence at all Monroe schools for the time being.
Despite the security measures, several students did not attend school Monday. MHS junior Brooke Isely said "a lot of people" were missing from class, adding that some people seemed paranoid about the situation.
Freshman Victoria Wilkinson said she was nervous about attending school, even though similar situations happened comparatively frequently when she attended school in Freeport. Meanwhile, she said students joked about the situation, teasing the student whose email account was used to send the threat.
The owner of the email account apologized to faculty, but was otherwise doing fine, Wilkinson said.
According to Hirsbrunner's statement, student searches and police presence will continue at the school throughout the week.
Kelley said the last time a threat was made was four to five years ago, when a threatening message was scrawled on a bathroom stall in the school.
Hirsbrunner and MHS Principal Chris Medenwaldt did not return phone calls seeking further information.
The threat, delivered to MHS students and staff through a student's school email account Sunday evening, expressed a desire to blow up the school and warned that the sender would be "bringing a suprise" (sic) to the school Thursday or possibly earlier.
Monroe Police Chief Fred Kelley said the student's email account was likely hacked. Police are following several leads regarding the sender's identity, but Kelley said it would be premature to comment on the nature of the leads.
Kelley said the police department treated the threat as genuine, as it does with all threats.
"Any time there's a threat to a building, or a home or a person, we treat it as legitimate," Kelley said. "It's the only way to put the safety of the students and the faculty first."
The school was swept Sunday night and deemed safe to open Monday morning. Police searched students and their belongings for weapons upon arrival at school Monday, according to a statement from Monroe School District Superintendent Cory Hirsbrunner. Police officers remained at the school throughout the day.
Kelley said there would be a heightened police presence at all Monroe schools for the time being.
Despite the security measures, several students did not attend school Monday. MHS junior Brooke Isely said "a lot of people" were missing from class, adding that some people seemed paranoid about the situation.
Freshman Victoria Wilkinson said she was nervous about attending school, even though similar situations happened comparatively frequently when she attended school in Freeport. Meanwhile, she said students joked about the situation, teasing the student whose email account was used to send the threat.
The owner of the email account apologized to faculty, but was otherwise doing fine, Wilkinson said.
According to Hirsbrunner's statement, student searches and police presence will continue at the school throughout the week.
Kelley said the last time a threat was made was four to five years ago, when a threatening message was scrawled on a bathroom stall in the school.
Hirsbrunner and MHS Principal Chris Medenwaldt did not return phone calls seeking further information.