WALES — A bomb threat cleared Oak Hill High School on Tuesday morning shortly after RSU 4 Superintendent Jim Hodgkin returned from Oak Hill Middle School where he talked to students about a threat that closed that school Monday.

In both cases, the word “bomb” was found written in a girls’ bathroom, according to Hodgkin.

On Monday, it had been found at 1:30 p.m. on a mirror on the second floor at the middle school.

On Tuesday, it was found around 9 a.m. written on a wall inside a stall at the high school. About 500 students were evacuated and bused to the middle school gym.

“It’s really unfortunate this happens ever, sometimes the timing is even worse,” Hodgkin said. “In light of what happened in Boston last week — yesterday was the one-week anniversary. That’s very unnerving. That anybody would think that it would be funny or cool or anything remotely close to that is very disturbing.”

On Monday, school closed early and students were bused to the high school while a state police bomb-sniffing dog checked the building. It was deemed clear at 4:45 p.m.

Hodgkin gathered the middle school students in the gym at 7:40 a.m. Tuesday for a talk.

He told them, “‘Everyone wants to feel safe in school and yesterday one person took it upon themselves to make everyone feel unsafe. Unfortunately, someone has again done that at the high school.”

After the high school was evacuated Tuesday morning, state police were called back and a dog checked that building. It was cleared at 12:45 p.m. Students returned for a brief assembly with Hodgkin and police, then went to their last class.

He said officials implored “people to share information with us and help us hold the individual or individuals responsible for this accountable so we can ensure that everybody feels safe in the school.”

Bathrooms at the high school and middle school have cameras outside the doors. Police were reviewing footage and planned to interview students seen coming and going, he said.

Students caught making bomb threats face criminal charges from police and expulsion from the school board.

The high school also had a bomb threat earlier this month, before school vacation. The word “bomb” on Tuesday was discovered in the same stall on the same wall as that hoax, Hodgkin said. In that first incident, students later reported that the word had been there at least a day.

“I just got two messages, identical, saying, ‘Whatever we’re doing to discipline these kids is not enough because obviously they don’t take it seriously,'” Hodgkin said. “The reality is we haven’t caught anybody. When they get caught they will be both disciplined in school and they will be disciplined by the law and it will not be a slap on the hand.”

The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office responded to Tuesday’s bomb scare since the high school is in Wales. On Monday, Sabattus police responded to the threat at the middle school.

Sabattus police Chief Tony Ward said his office had reviewed the hallway video. He anticipates interviewing students in the next day or two.

Anyone behind the threats could face a misdemeanor charge of filing a false public alarm or report and a felony charge of terrorizing.

“I’m feeling very confident that we’ll be able to identify who did this,” Ward said.

Due to the disruption, the high school cancelled its co-curricular awards assembly on Tuesday and rescheduled it for 2:30 p.m. May 9.

kskelton@sunjournal.com

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