Bomb Threat Reported At Newton Schools, Day After Waltham Threats

NEWTON, MA — All is clear this afternoon at Newton North and Newton South high schools after a bomb threat was emailed to the district directed at the schools earlier this morning prompting police and fire response to both schools. The matter is still under investigation, according to police.

"At around 10:30 a.m. the district received an email similar to the threats received earlier this week by other school districts," said Lt. Bruce Apotheker.

"The reports are under investigation and the schools sent out emailed notifications earlier today," he said.

Police declined to go into any more details because they were hoping to stop any copycat efforts.

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Superintendent David Fleishmen sent out a note home telling parents that all was well and that no one was evacuating.

"In consultation with the Newton Police and Fire Departments, and Federal Law Enforcement, we have decided to follow our safety protocol and not evacuate. Students and campers are continuing with their regular schedules and routines for the rest of the day," he wrote.

He said, however, that parents and guardians of children in summer camps could pick up their children earlier then dismissal time if they wanted to.

By mid afternoon there was no indication that anything had ever been amiss at Newton South. Adults sat on the benches chatting outside of the school. One teenager trotted toward the building, looking a bit late for something and a lone Newton Police cruiser sat in a side parking lot.

The reported threats come after email bomb threats this week were sent to Wareham, Waltham, Belmont schools. Yesterday Waltham school district received three threats and evacuated all school buildings out of what police called "an abundance of caution," while Belmont Schools investigated, deemed the threat low and did not evacuate any buildings, according to its superintendent. Earlier this week the Wareham threat was deemed to be a hoax. No word as of yet if these emailed threats are related to last year's spate of robo call hoaxes.

Although school is out for the summer, Newton schools host a number of summer programs.

Updates to come

(Photo of Newton North track on graduation day 2017 by Jenna Fisher/Patch)

Channel 7 first reported the news. Read the Ch. 7 report here.