New Hartford Senior High School Says Bomb Threat Is a Hoax

School officials of New Hartford Central School District are letting parents know that the bomb threat emailed to the local high school has been deemed not credible.

Several schools across Central New York received the suspicious and threatening messages today, June 12.

New Hartford took the emailed threat seriously and contacted New Hartford police, who determined the message was a hoax. The current belief is that a party overseas distributed the threat to area schools for reasons unknown at this time.

Despite the message being fake, the school safety officer swept the building out of an abundance of caution. A search of the high school yielded no evidence of explosives.

Once it was determined the students were not in danger, administrators alerted parents of the disruption.

In an online message, administrators wrote, in part:

The district’s security protocols are strictly enforced, and we ensure that our safety procedures are being closely followed. SSO personnel are at each school building, and entry to our schools during the regular school day is restricted. We have also reminded our staff to be aware of their surroundings and to report anything unusual to an administrator or call 911 in an emergency.

The school thanked local police for their rapid response to the perceived threat.

The school is also offering counseling services to students or parents who were troubled by the day's incident.

This incident is just one of many unfortunate happenstances to take place at the school district. Last month, a student from Bradley Elementary School reported a potential threat against other students, which was also deemed not credible. Unfortunately, the story was later embellished and exaggerated, causing serious concern among parents.

Read More: Threat Made at New Hartford Elementary School "Not Credible"

This also comes a few weeks after New Hartford made national news for the troubling artwork of LeBron James that was featured at the district-wide art show. Superintendent Cosimo Tangorra said the school is using that unfortunate incident as a learning lesson and promised to do better.

As for this latest event, it is reminiscent of the incident that happened in December last year, when multiple CNY schools were emailed bomb threats. The sender claimed they had planted explosives in several school buildings, but that incident was similarly deemed a hoax.

Later, officials determined they were the victim of a swatting incident.

The investigation into the newest threat is ongoing.  WIBX will update the story should any new developments occur.

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