Ionia Public Schools will be closed the Tuesday following Labor Day because of a bomb threat, superintendent Ron Wilson said.
Michigan State Police received the threat against Ionia High School on Sunday through a special school tip service and notified the district. The threat said a bomb had been planted in a locker at the high school and was set to detonate Tuesday morning.
"The threat was very specific - it said there is a a bomb in a locker at the high school and is set to go off on 10:15 on Tuesday morning," Wilson said. "The high school will remain on lockdown until they conduct the search.
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"Given the level of violence we have seen in our country, we have to take these threats very seriously. Certainly it's a disruption to the school and to the lives of people in the community."
The high school will remain on lock down until the state police complete a search of the building on Tuesday.
Because of the threat, all the schools in the district will be closed Tuesday as a precaution. Wilson said the decision to close the entire district is also practical because with the high school close, the student population would drop below 25 percent, meaning the state wouldn't count it as an official school day.
Making a false threat is a crime.
"If somebody actually put a bomb in the high school, obviously that would be a serious crime, but it's important for parents to remind kids that making a threat is also serious - it's a felony," Wilson said. "It's not to be toyed with."
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