“Get in line. Have your chromebooks out and open.”

A Fennimore Middle and High School staff person stood at the main entrance, directing students as they entered through the building’s main doors. He repeated the line each time the doors opened and a new cluster of teens filtered in, his voice booming over the buzz of young voices, his hands waving them forward.

Outside, cold rain fell, the sidewalks leading to the school doors filled with puddles. Inside, students were greeted by unusual precautions. The short hallway leading to the commons area was blocked by two tables, only a small opening existed to allow students through. Two more small tables blocked the two doors into the media center. Students were directed into one of six lines where additional school staff stood behind the tables waiting to search bags and inspect laptop computers.

Other entrances at both the middle/high school and elementary school were locked, ensuring all students used only the main entrances that day.

Earlier, aided by a two-hour delay due to icy roads that kept students home later than usual, the schools’ staff was joined by members of the Fennimore Police Department and Fire Department to search every crook and cranny of Fennimore school district buildings and buses, looking for possible explosives.

You cannot be too careful these days.

Weeks earlier, a bomb threat had been written on the wall in one of the middle/high school boys’ bathrooms indicating the school would be bombed Feb. 20. The threat was removed, though not by school staff. School officials did not learn of the threat until last Friday, Feb. 16 when a student came forward.

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For the complete article, please see the Feb. 22, 2018 issue of te Fennimore Times.