Update: School Shut After Bomb Scare

Primrose Hill Elementary School was evacuated Thursday morning, Oct. 13, after a bomb threat was called into the school around 9:43 am, reportedly by a woman.

Children were moved quickly out of the building to a safe location. Things went like clockwork, according to the police chief and school superintendent.

"The female caller told the school secretary that a bomb would go off at 11 am," said Police Chief John LaCross.

The principal, Paula Montesi, immediately called for a fire drill to evacuate the students and staff, said LaCross. She moved everyone to a lower parking lot, a safe location.

A call to the police and fire departments also was made, LaCross said. Officers secured the school and contacted the state fire marshal's office to bring in the bomb-sniffing dogs.

The evacuation went off without a hitch, said Superintendent Robert McIntyre.

"The principal, Paula Montesi, and the entire faculty and staff have to be commended for how they handled things," McIntyre said.

Plans were then made to walk the students down Old County Road to the nearby Barrington Christian Academy, which housed them in Cedar Hall and provided some food.

"The Barrington Christian Academy was outstanding," McIntyre said.

McIntyre cancelled school for the rest of the day because it was uncertain how long it would take to search the school. Parents were contacted by the Code Red emergency alert system and informed of the situation.

They could pick up their children at BCA if they wanted. Most of the students were scheduled to be bussed home at the regular time at the end of the day, LaCross said.

"I didn't want to send children home to empty houses," McIntyre said.

Meanwhile, the bomb squad searched the building and all the backpacks in the school and found nothing, LaCross said.

"It was actually an easy search," he said. "There are no lockers, for instance. The dogs walked around the perimeter of each room."

Faculty and staff were allowed to return to the school to pick up personal items at noon, LaCross said. Officials followed the FBI protocol of waiting an hour after the time a bomb is supposedly set to explode.

Police are continuing to investigate the threat, he said. Detectives are looking for any disgruntled workers or anyone who, perhaps, has talked about pulling a prank.

The bomb scare was the second in Barrington in the past nine months. Someone called in a threat to the Shaw's Supermarket in the Barrington plaza in March. It, too, proved to be a hoax.

The last time there was a bomb threat in a school was at Barrington High School about three or four years ago, LaCross said. An East Providence student and his girlfriend at the school who wanted to leave the building were charged soon after he made the call to the school.

The police are asking you to contact them with any information you might have about this bomb scare. Call the confidential police tip line at 437-3933.