PICKERINGTON, Ohio — People were asked to avoid Pickerington North High School after a bomb threat was reported at the school on Monday.
In an emergency notice sent to parents, Pickerington Local School District said “many entities” in the community have received bomb threats in the past 24 hours.
“This morning Pickerington North High School received such a threat,” the notice reads.
The district brought in canine units to investigate and the Fairfield County Sheriff's Office has since confirmed the threat is not credible. Students and staff have since returned to the building.
Canal Winchester schools were also evacuated on Monday after district officials confirmed reports of a threat.
The sheriff's office said a man linked to threats at both schools and around Canal Winchester was located several states away, near the west coast.
Amy Clark’s son is a freshman at Pickerington High School North.
“My biggest thing is reminding him that he is safe and he is taken care of and the school does know what they're doing and the police know what they're doing. You know it probably was a little scary in the moment but they were following the protocol they were doing what they needed to do to keep them safe," Clark said.
When it comes to whether they should have canceled school beforehand, Clark said if they knew about it, she would have appreciated it.
"You know the school being canceled especially with all of the virtual things that we have going on, there's no reason why they couldn't have done school at home. As far as canceling the rest of the day I have faith in the police that they did their job."
A dozen businesses were also closed on Sunday after non-credible bomb threats.
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