St. Regis School closed briefly after bomb threat

ST. REGIS — Teachers and students at St. Regis School were evacuated on Wednesday, Sept. 20 at 4:20 p.m. due to a bomb threat. According to Superintendent Joe Steele, the threat was made on a written note and left in the locker room. A student found it in a locker while changing out for football and alerted administration.

The note was reportedly written on a dollar bill and read that the school would burn down “today or tomorrow” and that there was a bomb in place in the building, said Steele.

The building was immediately evacuated and law enforcement contacted. Teachers escorted students to the Community Center, where parents were asked to meet their children. School had been dismissed 45 minutes earlier and so no classes were interrupted, but the evacuation disrupted after-school programming and athletics.

The Mineral County Sheriff’s Office contacted Missoula Police for a K-9 team. Two K-9 teams responded and arrived on scene by 6:20 p.m. Mineral County Sheriff Tom Bauer and his team secured the building’s perimeter while the building was checked. The building was cleared at 7:20 p.m.

“I want to thank the teachers, coaches and staff for quickly getting their students out of the building, the counselor and principal for ensuring the building was evacuated, and both Mineral County Sheriff and Missoula Police for their quick response,” said Steele. “I also want to commend the student for alerting an adult of the note, and Mr. Glenn Koepke for opening the Community Center. The procedures outlined in our All Hazards Checklist were followed to the letter, making this an efficient and smooth process.”

The administration and staff were also commended for their quick and efficient action by St. Regis School trustee member Charlee Thompson. She sent an email to Steele and said she was in the building when the evacuation took place. She commented that the building was cleared with minimal drama and the kids knew exactly what to do. Also, the staff took care in walking all of the students to the safety of the community center and parents had clear instructions on where to pick up their children.

“As a community member and parent I was very proud of how this was handled and to know that if another situation like this were to occur, that our kids would be safe and well taken care of,” said Thompson.

Outside of regular fire drills, the school had never been evacuated before in an emergency situation. The note was turned over to law enforcement and video of the locker room hallway saved in an archive file for future reference if needed. There are no suspects but the incident is still under investigation. Classes resumed on Thursday.