All-clear sounded at EHHS

GAINESVILLE - Students and faculty members began returning to East Hall High School about 2:00 Monday afternoon... some five hours after a bomb threat was found written on a wall in a restroom.

Hall County School System spokesperson Gordon Higgins said EHHS Principal Jeff Cooper discovered a message written on the wall of a girls' bathroom saying the high school would be blown up between 10:30 a.m. and noon Monday.

"Mr. Schofield, in conferring with the sheriff's department, said the threat should be taken seriously... and the best course of action would be to evacuate the school," said Higgins.

Higgins said buses took school personnel and students to the East Hall Community Center, which is roughly one mile away from the school. Bomb-sniffing dogs swept the building to make sure there are no explosive devices present.

Shannon Howard decided to pick up her ninth grader at the Community Center and take him home, saying the incident was a total surprise.

"I was shocked, I saw it on the news at noon," she said. "I feel a lot safer with him being at home."

Howard felt the system handled the situation well but wishes parents had been notified by the school system and not media reports.

Higgins said the parental notification system did send out an automatic announcement about the evacuation around 11:30 to all parents whose telephone numbers and email addresses or both are listed.


The school system is offering a $2,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the threat.

Higgins said roughly 900 students and faculty were present at the high school. He said the superintendent was notified of the threat around 9 a.m. Monday.

At 1:45, Higgins reported that sheriff's investigators had cleared the school buildings and grounds and students and personnel were being returned, by bus, to the campus. However, he said most would probably spend the rest of the school day in the gymnasium and administrative wing as police wrapped up their work.

He said the school day was scheduled to end on time this afternoon, with buses running their regular schedules.