DEXTER — A bomb threat Thursday forced the evacuation of a regional school before a search of the building determined there were no explosives on the campus, officials said.
Students and staff members were evacuated from Ridge View Community School, and the students were transported across town to Dexter Regional High School, where they were picked up by parents, Superintendent Kevin Jordan said in a brief statement on the school district’s website.
“At approximately 9:45 a.m. this morning local authorities informed us that a bomb threat had been received specifically naming the Ridge View Community School,” Jordan wrote in the statement. “All students and staff were safely evacuated.”
A Maine State Police bomb squad found no explosives after sweeping the school, which enrolls students from prekindergarten through eighth grade, Dexter police said in a statement to the news media.
Jordan said classes at Ridge View are set to resume Friday, with an added police presence.
Ridge View is in the far eastern part of Dexter, and the high school is in the northern section of town, which is in Penobscot County.
Dexter police said an investigation into the threat is continuing and is to include the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The evacuation came after a wave of threats was made in early November against middle schools, high schools and colleges in Maine. The targets of those threats included schools in Augusta, Presque Isle, Skowhegan and Topsham, and led to lockdowns and classes being canceled. None of the threats was found to be credible.
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