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Numerous Maine schools canceled or delayed classes Monday morning after receiving threatening messages.
George Stevens Academy evacuated students from its Blue Hill campus after receiving a voicemail that included an “imminent threat.”
Staff heard the voicemail when returning to school offices after the weekend, the school said in a statement. Students have been told to stay home when possible, and those already onsite were evacuated.
The threat was one of at least three received by Maine schools Monday, with Topsham-based MSAD 75 closing all of its schools in response to similar threats and Bangor’s All Saints Catholic School delaying its opening.
Law enforcement was on site in Blue Hill, the school said in a statement posted just after 8:15 a.m. Monday. A Hancock County Sheriff’s Office cruiser was parked in front of the school on Union Street around 8:30 a.m.
The sheriff’s office said later on Monday that the threat appeared to be part of a nationwide hoax and that there was no danger to the public,
Head of School Dan Welch said he didn’t have a comment immediately Monday morning.
George Stevens Academy is a private town academy that serves as the local high school for seven towns on the Blue Hill peninsula. Those towns have school choice, and about a third of the overall student population attends other area high schools.
All Saints Catholic School, which serves pre-K through eighth grade, received bomb threats Monday morning, Assistant Principal Dan Soucier said in a letter to families Monday morning. The school was working with the Bangor Police Department and initially planned to reopen its two campuses before 10 a.m., according to Soucier.
Topsham-based MSAD 75 also received a series of threats, Superintendent Heidi O’Leary said in a statement.
“While many such threats are often determined to be hoaxes, the volume and scope of these messages across multiple buildings have created an environment of insecurity and potential chaos,” she wrote, adding that the district has to take threats as credible until law enforcement confirms otherwise.
BDN Coastal Editor Bill Trotter contributed to this report.