WORTHINGTON, Ohio — Worthington Kilbourne High School was closed for the second day in a row on Friday following a new threat that specifically targeted the Black students at the school.
In a letter sent to families Friday morning, Worthington Schools Superintendent Trent Bowers said the high school received an email that threatened to shoot the Black students.
Bowers said he spoke with Worthington police and made the decision to close the school again out of caution.
The high school was set to reopen on Friday with active police presence on campus after it closed Thursday because of threats to bomb and shoot up the school.
Bowers said principal Aric Thomas discovered the email threat before the school opened. Investigators determined that the email was routed through Germany, but the origin of the email is not known. Police have also not verified whether the email was a hoax.
Bowers said district officials will work with the Columbus and Worthington police departments on plans to safely get students and staff back to school.
“With full transparency in mind, I've attempted to detail what we're dealing with here. We're incredibly disappointed to be dealing with this and ask for your patience as we attempt to put student and staff safety as the priority,” Bowers said.
Following a meeting with the school board on Friday evening, Bowers said that they plan to resume school on Monday but with an increase in law enforcement presence. It's still unclear where the email was sent from.
You can read the full letter to parents below.
Dear Worthington Families,
On Thursday, September 21st, we closed Worthington Kilbourne High School due to a specific threat that was emailed to principal Aric Thomas. We reported this threat to the Columbus Police, worked with the counter-terrorisim task force and Ohio’s homeland security. We know that the email was routed through Germany, but we don’t know the origin of the email. The police were not able to verify whether this was a specific threat or a hoax. Thus, I felt like closing school was the correct action.
Sadly, last night we received another threat including a reference to shooting our African-American students. We’ve again reported this threat to the Columbus Police. I also personally asked the Worthington City Police for their assistance on whether it would be safe to run school. Chief Grile and I discussed this morning over the phone. Obviously, our number one responsibility is the safety of our students and staff. On one hand, this decision to close school again today is easy. The challenge again becomes, what about Monday, Tuesday, etc…? As of today, I don’t know. But for today, we determined the prudent decision would be to close school.
We will spend today with the Columbus Police and Worthington Police working to both track this down and work on plans to safely get students and staff back to school. We’ve debriefed with our WKHS staff today, and we’ll seek to be as prepared as possible for next week.
With full transparency in mind, I've attempted to detail what we're dealing with here. We're incredibly disappointed to be dealing with this and ask for your patience as we attempt to put student and staff safety as the priority.
Respectfully,
Trent Bowers, Superintendent