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12/12/2018 11:00 PMDaniel Hand High School (DHHS) has been evacuated this afternoon following an email threat. School officials have informed families via an e-notify message and are working closely with state and local police.
Madison Police Captain Joe Race said representatives from the state police are on site and more are on the way along with a K9 unit. The threat, identical to the one received by schools across the country today, is a bomb threat and police are preparing to sweep the school.
"We took that as a valid threat so the school has been evacuated per our protocols," he said.
Because the threat came in late in the afternoon, Race said a majority of students had already left for the day.
"Fortunately the threat came in when the school was mostly empty and most of the students had left," he said. "There were only a few that we had to move and they are being picked up by their parents now."
The e-notify announcement came just after 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 13.
“As you may be aware, numerous email threats have been made around the state today, and it was reported that hundreds of others were made around the country as well,” the notification read. “Daniel Hand High School received one of these emails late this afternoon. As a result, we have evacuated the building based on advisement from the Madison Police Department, until the state police can bring the explosives-detecting squad to the school prior to reentry for staff and students. A follow up message will be sent once the school has been cleared by the state police.”
Superintendent of Schools Tom Scarice said as threats have been made across the country, the school is taking all appropriate precautionary action at this time. No other school in the district received a threat.
“We have a close partnership with the Madison Police, who have been in contact with the state police and we took their advisement to evacuate DHHS and follow the appropriation actions with the state police to follow up,” Scarice said.
Connecticut State Police released a statement this afternoon. State police had first responded to a suspicious email at Griswold Elementary School but quickly determined the email threat was not an isolated incident.
"In the course of the investigation, which is active and ongoing, it was determined that multiple states across the country were receiving similar threatening correspondents- affecting all sectors- both public and private," the statement read. "Each email contained similar verbiage. To date, none of the threats were found to be creditable but we
strongly encourage anyone who may receive a suspicious email, to immediately call 911.
"The Connecticut State Police are currently working with our Federal, State and Local partners in the investigation of this incident and the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection's Cyber Crimes Investigative Unit and Connecticut Intelligence Center (CTIC) are also working to identify the source of the emails that are circulating across various locations in the state."
Scarice is expected to send further communication once an all clear is given.
Check back for updates.