Classes Resume at Westford Academy

A threat in a bathroom of Westford Academy on May 6, which caused the school to be evacuated and a three-hour search of the building is still under investigation by authorities. However classes are expected to return to normal this morning.

Information about the incident is also very limited. 

Westford Police and Fire and Rescue teams were called to the school before noon for a report of a threat. Students were officially released at 12:30 p.m. but evacuation of the building started before then, with police at the scene reporting that buses had shifted the school’s 1,400 students out of the area about 10 minutes before. An incident command center was set up in front of the building as first responders began to evaluate the threat.

At just before 12:30 p.m., it was reported that a student saw the threat in a wall in a bathroom and took a picture of it. There’s no official word at post time about what the threat was but a number of press outlets reported that it was "a bomb threat" and "specific in nature."

Both police and firefighters, as well as WA staffers, searched the school in an effort to find anything out of the ordinary. A K9 unit was called in just before 1 p.m. to assist with the search. After about two hours of searching the school and the grounds, the K9 unit and first responders were cleared from the scene.

Although nothing was found at the school, it was kept closed to the public last evening, as a safety precaution. After school activities, including sports games, were cancelled for students. 

James Antonelli, the principal of the school, told parents in an email that staffers and first responders had “thoroughly searched” the building and “determined that the building is safe.” He also commended students and staffers “a safe and orderly dismissal.”

School Superintendent Everett Olsen and Westford Police Chief Tom McEnaney did not return requests for comment.