PULASKI, Wis. (WFRV) – Although a device was never found, a second bomb threat disrupted the school day at Pulaski High School on Tuesday.
In a release posted to their website, Pulaski School District officials said they evacuated Pulaski High School students to the middle school after receiving a threat on Tuesday morning. After bomb-sniffing dogs searched the area and officers checked the roof and perimeter of the building, police officers gave the all clear around 11:30 on Tuesday.
Police said they’re still investigating this incident. This is the second bomb threat in three school days in Pulaski, there was another one at the high school on Friday.
“School is supposed to be their safe place, they are supposed to be comfortable going to school,” said Corinne Phillips a parent of Pulaski middle school students.
Phillips and other parents have raised concerns about the district’s emergency response to the threat. She said district officials’ decision to evacuate the high school students to the middle school was particularly troubling.
“As someone who was in Corrections for three years, there would never be a time when a threat was presented in one housing unit, and we move all those individuals into another populated unit risking the chance for a spread,” she said. “We as parents don’t understand how there was a bomb threat presented to the Pulaski High School with no leads to who it was, what their motives are, who they are connected to and what they have access to.”
Phillips said that she wishes it would have been handled differently.
“A few of us parents that have been speaking regarding Friday and today’s incident feel that the school placed a great risk on a much larger population than needed,” she said. “To think that the district more than doubled the Pulaski Middle School’s population in such a small area with no real intel into the threats is scary.”
Not everybody has been critical of the district’s response to the bomb threat though. Several people have taken to Facebook to praise the district’s response.
Although the district has posted several news releases on its website to update the community on the situation, a district official didn’t respond to a request for an interview this afternoon.
In one of their news releases, district officials said that they’ll send out information on their action plan for multiple similar threats (like what they’re facing now) soon. They said they’re working with other districts and law enforcement agencies to develop that action plan.
District officials also said in the news releases posted on their website that they highly encourage parents to keep their kids in school. They said in their conversations with police officers they believe they’re at the point where the school is safe and secure.
“We have an amazing and excellent community here in Pulaski and it is so saddening to see that some people are so short-minded and are diminishing the quality of the community’s values that generations have worked so hard to instill,” said Phillips. “I hope we can find a resolution for now and then prepare for the future better than we did last week.”
All of the district’s news releases on the bomb threat situations can be read here.
“The safety of our school children is a priority for the Pulaski Police Department, and we take all such threats seriously,” said Pulaski police department officials in a statement. “We want to remind students if they hear any threats or have any information about these incidents or even potential violence, they can always reach out to our school resource officers or staff with the Pulaski Community School District.”