Chandler schools were forced to evacuate and classes were canceled on Monday shortly after they started due to a bomb threat.
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the bomb threat. Capt. Chuck Brewer with the sheriff’s office said Tuesday, “We have an active investigation with viable leads.”
School Supt. Melody Toma said the call came into the Chandler Police Department about 8:20 a.m., around 15 minutes after classes began.
“We evacuated all of our buildings and all of the students and staff were sent home for the day,” she said.
Toma said the district has 1,133 students plus staff.
“The Oklahoma Highway Patrol Bomb Squad brought their dogs in and cleared all six buildings,” Toma noted.
She emphasized no bomb was found. She said Park Rose Elementary, with grades 3-6, was not on the list of targeted buildings, but “We evacuated it anyway since it’s on the high school campus. Our bus drivers, some of whom are coaches, did an excellent job of evacuating East Side Elementary students and staff to a different site until parents, a guardian or designated person could come and pick them up,” Toma explained.
She said some of the coaches are bus drivers “so they jumped on buses and headed to East Side along with other bus drivers.
“There are 319 students plus staff at East Side,” she stated.
Toma said the evacuation was “incredibly quick. The OHP and Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office were astounded with our evacuation time,” she added.
The superintendent stressed, “I give that credit to the parents. Every student was picked up by a parent or a guardian or designated individual. We didn’t have to transport any students by bus to their homes.”
She said every building was swept and cleared by the OHP bomb squad and their dogs. Along with them, the sheriff, his deputies, and Chandler Police and Firemen were at all the sites and kept people away.
This is Toma’s fourth year as Chandler superintendent and the first time she’s experienced a bomb threat, she said.