Officials said that despite a series of terroristic threats at Marysville and other school districts in the county and around there state, the school day was uneventful, said school and law enforcement officials.
“Everything has gone smoothly,” Marysville Police Chief Tony Brooks said at the end of the school day Monday.
Sunday morning officials at Marysville, Fairbanks, Jonathan Alder, Dublin and other districts around the state received emails.
According to an announcement from the Marysville School District, the messages came from “an account that claims to be a Russian organization targeting American schools.”
Brooks said the email claimed the Russian organization “had planted explosives inside the schools and would detonate them at an appointed time.”
Adham Schirg, superintendent at Fairbanks, confirmed that his district received a similar email threat. Officials at both districts contacted local law enforcement officials. Brooks said investigators contacted state and federal law enforcement partners “for assistance in analyzing the validity of the threat.”
He said that investigators determined that the emails were “very similar, if not verbatim, to the email hoax sent to schools around Texas a few days prior.”
“Based on the information found, the email threat is not deemed credible,” Brooks said.
In matching statements from Fairbanks and Marysville schools, district leaders informed parents that “law enforcement does not believe these threats are credible and recommends proceeding with normal operations.”
Even so, school and law enforcement officials said they understand the anxiety and concern a threat of this nature may cause students, families, staff and the community.
“Due to the concern and anxiety these types of incidents can bring, Marysville PD is taking extra precautions to help alleviate some of these concerns by increasing patrols around our school buildings tomorrow,” according to the statement, released Sunday.
Fairbanks had additional patrols from the Union County Sheriff’s Office.
Brooks said the Marysville School Resource Officers assigned to Marysville School buildings were also on hand.
The chief stressed that the increased presence “is not due to any threat concerns, but being done in an attempt to calm nerves that may be on edge because of the hoax email.”
He did ask any community residents who “sees or hears anything of concern” to report it to the Marysville Police at (937) 645-7300 or to school administration or to submit information through the district’s “Stay Safe Speak Up!” report line.
Schirg said his district “will continue to work with local law enforcement and share any new information that becomes available.”
He also asked any resident or student that knows, sees or hears anything of concern, to report it to our school administrators, the Union County Sheriff’s office, or submit calls or texts via the district’s school safety line at 844- 723-3764.
Law enforcement officials said dozens of districts in Ohio received similar threats.
Several schools in Texas also received threats from a Russian source last week. The FBI in that case called the threats “clearly hoax threats.”
Sunday night the FBI released a statement indicating they were aware of at least some of the incidents in Ohio.
“At this time, there is no evidence to suggest these to be credible,” according to the statement. “The FBI takes swatting very seriously because it puts innocent people at risk. Investigating hoax threats drains law enforcement resources and delivers them from responding to an actual crisis. The FBI works with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to gather, share, and act upon threat information as it comes to our attention and often provides resources and guidance in these investigations.”