WILTON – A man with slurred speech called in two bomb threats at Academy Hill School and Cushing School this morning, forcing the schools to bus students to alternate sites, police said.

 

The roughly 360 students at the two schools were evacuated safely around 10 a.m. and will finish the school day at two other school buildings in Farmington, according to Leanne Condon, an administrator for the school district.

 

The two schools in Wilton, with students in grades pre-K to 6, each received a threat about 9:20 a.m. A man whose speech was described as slurred told school officials that there was a bomb in the schools, according to a release from Wilton police Chief Heidi Wilcox.

 

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Area police and fire departments responded to the scene and a NorthStar Ambulance was on standby in the area, Wilcox stated. Maine State Police have cleared the two school buildings with bomb detection dogs and no suspicious devices were located, she stated.

 

The case is being investigated by Sgt. Richard Billian Jr. and Officer Billie Martin, both of the Wilton Police Department.

 

The 161 Cushing School students in grades pre-K to 2 were bused to W.G. Mallett School. The 205 Academy Hill School students were bused to Cascade Brook School, Condon said.

Parents who want to pick up their students early must sign them out from the school buildings in Farmington. Otherwise the displaced students will be taken home on buses at the normal dismissal times this afternoon, with walkers being bused to the Methodist Church parking lot on Main Street in Wilton, Condon said.

 

This is the first threat at a building within Mt. Blue Regional School District 9 since a series of bomb threats at district’s high school in Farmington last year disrupted classes.


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