Bomb threat prompts security measures

By 

The Columbus Dispatch

Saturday October 1, 2011 6:31 AM

Granville High School and Middle School
students going to class on Monday might feel more like they’re going through airport security.

Everyone must enter through the school’s main entrance, where bags will be checked and liquids
thrown out at the door.

Police officers and dogs will sweep the grounds and throughout the schools.

The safety precautions are prompted by a bomb threat that was found at the entrance to the
school’s football stadium on Tuesday. The words “there will be a bomb” followed by the date “
10/03/2011” and “12 o’clock” were scribbled on stone slabs in red marker.

“To be honest with you, I don’t think there’s any reaction that’s too much of a reaction in this
case,” said Principal Ryan Bernath. “The fact that there’s a date and time listed, that’s enough to
be on alert.”

This is the first bomb threat for Granville since Bernath started working at the school in
2000.

Pickerington Central High School embraced similar safety measures in 2009 after a case of
vandalism and a string of three bomb threats.

It is not uncommon for schools to have police officer and canine units after a bomb threat,
although the restriction on liquids is uncommon, said Kenneth Trump, president of National School
Safety and Security Services in Cleveland.

“You have to look at the facts on a case-by-case basis,” Trump said. There isn’t a “
black-and-white checklist that schools can follow.”

Bernath sent an email to the school community and parents yesterday afternoon, with details
about the beefed-up security.

The entire campus will be searched and walk-throughs and door-checks will be held at random
times.

Seniors will not be allowed to leave for lunch, and all visitors will have to enter through the
main doors. Students with musical instruments were told to leave them at the high school over the
weekend.

In addition to aid from Granville police, Columbus police and the Muskingum County sheriff’s
office will provide dogs.

Susan Ginise, a parent and president of the Granville Education Foundation, said she’s sending
her children to school on Monday, even though she’s heard other parents won’t.

“I think our kids’ education is a lot more important than giving too much importance to this
incident,” she said. “But I’m not ignoring it. I’ve instructed my kids to be careful, but I also
don’t want it to be a distraction for them. I think the school’s done a good job of taking it
seriously, and we’re following the directions.”

School officials plan to meet again on Monday to decide whether to continue any of these
measures.

“I’ve thought to myself, ‘At what point are we doing too much?’  ” Bernath said. “But it goes
back to our student safety, and if we go overboard, I’m okay with that.”

qtruong@dispatch.com