High Point Elementary School students returned to classes on Aug. 29, a day after being evacuated from the school after an emailed bomb threat.
Fulton County Schools spokesperson Brian Noyes told Rough Draft Atlanta that staff and students returned to normal operations at the school located at 520 Greenland Road NE in Sandy Springs. A support team was at High Point for any students or staff who needed assistance or counseling.
Noyes said Fulton County Police coordinated with Sandy Springs Police to investigate. The building was swept and cleared before allowing students and staff to return this morning. The investigation is ongoing.
On Thursday, Aug. 28, High Point students were taken by bus a mile away to Ridgeview Charter Middle School at 5340 S Trimble Rd. after the school received the email threat, Noyes said. Parents were able to pick their children up from there. Bus riders and day care students were dismissed from Ridgeview.
Parents received email and text notifications throughout the day on Aug. 28 about the incident.
“All scholars were evacuated safely, transported to Ridgeview MS, and reunited with their families without incident,” High Point Elementary Principal Danielle Miller said in a final email message to parents on Thursday. “We worked closely with Fulton County Schools Police and the Sandy Springs Police Department, and the building has been fully cleared. School will resume on a normal schedule tomorrow.”
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and the FBI’s Atlanta office are investigating a series online threats that have happened over the past few days, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. On Wednesday, a Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta spokesperson said its Hughes Spalding hospital in downtown Atlanta also received a bomb threat around 11:30 a.m. Nothing was found.
Mercer University in Macon ordered students to shelter in place after Bibb County’s 911 center received a threatening call at approximately the same time on Wednesday, the AJC reported. Nothing was found after a sweep of the campus.
And a day earlier, Central Georgia Technical College was put in lockdown after a 911 call about an active shooter on its campus. That was also declared a hoax.
“We are aware of recent swatting incidents involving a number of colleges and entities throughout the state of Georgia and are working with our law enforcement partners,” FBI Atlanta posted on its Facebook page. “The FBI is seeing an increase in swatting events across the country, and we take potential hoax threats very seriously because it puts innocent people at risk.”
