Despite assurances from both Pea Ridge Police and school officials, many parents reacted to the news of a bomb threat by keeping their children home from school Monday.
At 6 a.m. Monday, April 3, parents of students in the district were notified by school officials of a bomb threat, told that the schools had been cleared by police and that additional police presence would be on the five campuses Monday.
Comments on the social media posts from the school district and police varied from thanking the police for keeping the public safe, to fear of sending children to school to criticism and advise on how to handle the situation.
As of mid-morning Monday, school officials said the attendance was 45% to 50% of students enrolled. Martin said the absences will be excused.
Pea Ridge Police spent the hours from midnight until after dawn Monday thoroughly searching every building in the Pea Ridge School District after being notified a bomb threat had been sent by email to a school official.
"On April 2, 2023, just before midnight, the Pea Ridge Police Department was made aware of an e-mailed bomb threat made toward the Pea Ridge School District sent to administration staff," according to a press release by the Police Department.
"We did a thorough check of every school and if we did not think it was safe, we would have recommended closing the school," said Lt. John Langham, public information officer.
"It's an open investigation," Langham said. "We can not comment further until the investigation is complete. We can not release any more information for the safety of the case and all involved."
"We will continue to do everything possible to keep our students and community safe," Langham said.
According to the press release, "No particular school was named as a target. The e-mail itself presented with low credibility, however, we take every such threat seriously. As a result, off-duty personnel were called in to assist with a search of every school and found nothing suspicious.
"Due to the incident and an abundance of caution the police department will have an extra presence at our schools throughout the day. If citizens see anything or anyone suspicious, we encourage them to report it through our dispatch center at (479) 451-8220 or call 9-1-1 if it appears there is an immediate danger," wrote Langham.
School officials notified police immediately after receiving the email, according to school superintendent Keith Martin, who said school officials will continue to work with law enforcement as the threat is investigated.
"We appreciate you trusting us with your children. We make every effort to provide a safe and caring environment for everyone," Martin wrote to parents.
Langham said everyone should "go about their day normally" and assured the public that the incident is being thoroughly investigated.
Superintendent Martin, who was with the police at the schools all night, said: "We even searched the school buses this morning"
"The police did a great job of searching the buildings," Martin said.
"The police department searched every classroom, every cabinet, bathroom, trash cans, ALE, the perimeter of the buildings, everything -- it took longer than I thought it would," he said, adding that he is grateful that the school administrator saw the email late that night and immediately notified him.
"We're looking for suspicious packages ... there's a lot more to it than that," he said. "On a massive search like that, it takes a lot of eyes, a lot of people... we looked in every closet and every nook and cranny, every storage and everything else."
"We spent the night searching the buildings. We are confident everything is safe," he said.
"We will have our guys walking through the schools and parking lots throughout the day," Langham said.
Youth Arrested
A juvenile was arrested Monday afternoon in connection with the bomb threat sent by email to a Pea Ridge school official, according to Pea Ridge Police Chief Lynn Hahn.
Parents of students were notified at 6 a.m. about the threat and told there was no evidence of a bomb. Many parents did not send their children to school, and school officials said attendance was about 45-50% of enrollment. Several students were checked out of school as the day progressed, with there being about 40% attendance in the afternoon, according to school officials.
"I want to compliment our officers for doing a great job dealing with the bomb threat sent by email to a school administrator late last night. The patrol division took quick action, working with school officials to thoroughly search every school building in the district, including every room, every desk, and every nook and cranny that might contain an explosive.
"This exhaustive search was completed before our school children started arriving on campus this morning, and nothing suspicious was discovered," Hahn said. "Officers also spent an abundance of time at all school campuses today."
"Simultaneously, our detectives went to work to identify the source of the emailed threat. With assistance from our partners with the F.B.I., we were able to determine the source of the email. This afternoon, Pea Ridge officers served a search warrant at a home in Pea Ridge. During this search warrant, we were able to recover several items of evidence related to the threat. There was ZERO evidence of any bomb-making material," Hahn said.
Threatening to commit an act of mass violence on school property is a Class C felony. The suspect, in this case, is a juvenile, so we are legally barred from releasing the suspect's name or more details regarding the case, Hahn said.