BETHEL — A “credible threat” toward the Telstar high and middle schools complex on Route 26 closed the four schools in Maine School Administrative District 44 on Monday.

“Unfortunately, MSAD 44 schools will not be able to open today, Monday, September 9, 2024,” Superintendent Mark Kenney said in a live feed update early Monday. “Sorry for the late notice. We had a credible threat come in towards the Telstar complex that we are working on with the OCSO,” he said, referring to the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office. “And yes, this will have to count as our first snow day for 2024-2025.”

Sheriff Christopher Wainwright confirmed his office is investigating the incident. “Nothing I can tell you at the moment,” he said Monday morning about the nature of the threat.

“We have been working with the OCSO all morning following up on a report that came in overnight from a student/parent who saw a post on Snapchat,” Kenney said in an email later. “We were not able prior to school opening to talk to all parties involved and come to a conclusion about the credibility of the threat made. I made the decision to close schools while we continued to investigate,” he added.

The building housing the middle and high schools was closed last week because of a nonfunctioning fire alarm system.

The other two schools affected by the closure Monday were Crescent Park Elementary in Bethel and Woodstock Elementary.

“The reason the elementary schools were also canceled is similar to last week” Kenney said. “If we do not have 50% district attendance, the day would not count. Without the middle and high school in session, we fall below that mark.”

The district has been in the process of changing their student information systems, Kenney said. “There have been some big glitches with that transfer and unfortunately our ‘Instant Alert’ system is not working properly, which is making it difficult to consistently get the word out to all staff and families,” he added.

High school sports games will not be affected due to the closure, Kenney said.

“We have made the decision along with the OCSO now that the threat is not seen as credible, to allow for the Telstar High School home soccer games to still take place today as well as other HS practices,” he noted. “There will be no MS sports tonight.”

Starting tomorrow, the Sheriff’s Office will have a deputy present on the Telstar campus for the remainder of the week while students are there, Kenney said.

“School will resume for everyone tomorrow morning, Tuesday, September 10, 2024. This does count as our first snow day cancellation of the 2024-2025 school year.”

“This incident has nothing to do with our issues last week with the fire alarm system at Telstar,” he said. “That was successfully fixed and inspected on Saturday.”

“If you or your student hear information about this or any situation that poses a safety risk, (we ask) that they tell an adult, teacher, coach in the moment and not continue to talk about rumors, post things to social media, etc. so we can investigate quickly and thoroughly to help avoid situations like this morning,” Kenney said. “Helping to have that conversation at home would be appreciated greatly.”

The district includes Bethel, Gilead, Greenwood, Newry and Woodstock.