Board reviews evacuation

"Mr. Swann came to my office to report (the discovery) of a threat of blowing the school up," Winberry told board members. "We decided to evacuate both campuses and send the students home. Mr. Swann was in charge of moving the students to the football field, and I remained at the high school and helped with the search, providing keys and such."

The superintendent went on to tell board members that law enforcement with the Piggott P.D., Arkansas State Police and Clay County Sheriff's office responded to the scene, along with personnel from the Piggott Fire Department. He noted that, following the evacuation, an extensive search of the building and lockers turned up nothing out of the ordinary.

Winberry indicated the evacuation went smoothly and some of the students were allowed to return to the building to retrieve personnel items later that day, although most didn't return until the following morning.

According to Winberry, the threatening message was written in pencil on a boys bathroom wall at the high school and, after it was discovered, Swann instructed the custodian to write down what it said and remove it from the wall. Winberry said there was some confusion about when the message was first discovered and reported "apparently the message was found some days before and brought to the attention of Mr. DeHart and Mr. Swann."

At this point the board members voted to go into an executive session to further discuss the matter. That session lasted about 45 minutes and afterward the board voted to adjourn without taking further action.

At last report the matter remained under investigation.