Philomath Police conducted a sweep of Philomath Middle School on Saturday morning after the campus was targeted in a bomb threat, Chief Dave Gurski reported. No suspicious devices were discovered and the building was cleared as safe.
The call came in shortly before 9 a.m. Nov. 29 during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend when no students or staff were on campus.
“We notified the superintendent and the principal made sure there was no staff working there on Saturday,” Gurski said. “Then we sent officers there to lock down the school and the campus.”
In a joint operation involving Philomath Police, Corvallis Police and Oregon State University Police, the agencies determined PPD would handle the middle school sweep while the other two agencies addressed additional aspects of what appears to be a multi-faceted investigation.
“We ended up making entry into the middle school and sweeping that and didn’t find any suspicious devices and opened it back up,” Gurski said. “Our portion of that particular case was done and it’s a little bit more complex for Corvallis and OSU Police — they had more to address and investigate.”
Five Philomath Police staff responded to the incident, including the chief, a sergeant, two on-duty officers and another officer who was called in. The three agencies met that morning to coordinate their response.
While students, teachers and staff were on Thanksgiving break, police wanted to confirm no one was in the building — possibly a teacher catching up on work or janitorial staff or maintenance personnel taking advantage of an empty facility to complete tasks.
Philomath School District Superintendent Susan Halliday sent an email to school families Saturday afternoon reporting that following the sweep, “no threats of harm” were found and “all is safe for Philomath schools.”
Teachers, staff and students head back to school on Tuesday.
“As of right now, as far as we’re concerned, there’s no threat to the middle school or any other part of Philomath,” Gurski said.
Gurski said he was limited in what information he could share about the incident since it remains an active investigation with the ongoing work by the other agencies.
The chief said he anticipates more information will be released in the coming days.