LYON TOWNSHIP (WWJ) -- Officials with South Lyon Community Schools say they're stepping up surveillance of school bathrooms after a bomb threat at South Lyon High School on Thursday prompted an evacuation of the building.
It was the fifth threat found written in a bathroom stall within the district in the last month, according to South Lyon Superintendent Steve Archibald.
Students returned to class Thursday afternoon after investigators deemed the threat was not credible, but Archibald said in a letter to parents late Thursday afternoon, obtained by WWJ, "the monitoring of our bathrooms has increased since these incidents began occurring and additional steps will be taken going forward."
"We will be adjusting staff assignments to increase monitoring of the bathrooms at each high school," Archibald's afternoon email read. "The surveillance cameras which are positioned outside of the bathroom entrances are used to help identify individuals who have used a particular bathroom at the time when the threat was believed to have been written."
Archibald noted any students who are identified will be interviewed by school administration and evidence techs from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office will be dispatched to the school to collect any pertinent evidence. The investigation is turned over to the sheriff's office if school personnel are unable to identify the individual responsible for making the threat.
District officials said in an earlier email to parents shortly after 9 a.m. Thursday that they were made aware of the message, which said "SLHS is getting bombed"
According to officials, the threat was found in the upper A wing boys' bathroom.
"District administration reached out to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office and the building has been evacuated," the email read.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said in an press release that multiple bomb detecting dogs searched the scene at Lafayette St., going room to room to check for explosives, but nothing was found.
Students, faculty and staff were moved to a safe zone -- the bleachers of the football field -- until authorities cleared the building.
WWJ's Jon Hewett reported the building was cleared by police, and students headed back to class shortly before noon.
This was the third threat made at South Lyon High School in the last nine days and the fifth threat the district has received in a month.
The school was placed on lockdown last Tuesday, Oct. 25 when officials discovered a threat to shoot up the building also on a bathroom wall.
Not six days later, the school experienced another threat of violence on Oct. 31 when administrators said they learned that that someone had written, “I will shoot this school up today” on the wall of a first-floor girl’s bathroom.
Earlier in the month, a 15-year-old boy was charged for allegedly making a threat on Oct. 4 against South Lyon East High School.
Bouchard said in all four cases, the threats were non-credible.
While authorities have detailed the four cases, including Thursday's, it was not immediately clear what was the fifth threat Archibald referred to.
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