St. Charles school checking backpacks after bullet found

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St. Charles School District 303 Superintendant Don Schlomann

Updated: November 30, 2011 12:42AM

ST. CHARLES — St. Charles North High School students were sent home early Thursday after a bullet was found in the school.

But they had to leave their backpacks behind, for school administrators to examine Thursday night.

School District spokesman Jim Blaney said the school was closed about 1 p.m. and after-school activities were canceled.

Students were required to leave their backpacks at the high school to be searched, and bomb-sniffing dogs were called in to check for any possible weapons.

St. Charles police said the bullet was found in a common area of the high school by a staff member. No students were in the area at the time and no known threats have been identified by police.

St. Charles Superintendent Don Schlomann said the live ammunition round was found at about 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

Police did not find any weapons, but an investigation is ongoing.

“There was no indication that there was a gun. No threats were identified,” Schlomann said.

Blaney said school officials did not believe there was an “imminent threat” to students or school staff.

“Under the circumstances we thought that this was the prudent course of action,” Blaney said of the early dismissal.

“If I was a parent, I’d want my child to exit the building,” Schlomann said.

Staff inspections

Classrooms were put on lockdown at noon, Schlomann said.

Parents were notified via phone and e-mail of the school closure. Students were dismissed from the building starting at 12:15 p.m., room-by-room after a lockdown was instituted. The dismissal took about an hour and bus service was available at that time.

Students were allowed to take personal items, such as car keys and cell phones, but were required to leave backpacks. Teachers were not required to leave items, Schlomann said.

School administrators planned to process about 2,000 student backpacks at St. Charles North with an X-ray wand similar to those used in airport security. Backpacks were not to be opened during the inspection Thursday night.

Police will not process the backpacks, Schlomann emphasized.

“I have more flexibility (than police would),” Schlomann said of having school staff do the inspections.

Administrators said Thursday afternoon that all lockers would be searched and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives agents would also bring in bomb-sniffing dogs overnight.

“This is a lengthy process and the backpacks will be kept and secured overnight in the classrooms where they were left when students were dismissed,” Blaney said Thursday.

Getting bags back

On Friday, students will first report to their sixth-hour class to start the school day where they left their backpacks. Administrators are asking students who do not have a first-hour class to arrive at school by 7:20 a.m. Friday.

Students will be able to claim their backpacks Friday unless the X-ray wand indicated the need for further inspection.

“If that is the case, the student will be asked to open the bag in front of a school administrator for additional inspection,” Schlomann said.

Off-campus extracurricular activities that started before the incident continued as scheduled, Blaney said.

Schlomann said the high school had a bomb threat six years ago.

Anyone with information is asked to call the St. Charles Police Department Investigations Unit at 630-377-4435. Further School District updates will be posted on the district’s website at d303.org.

“Often in this process we find information out from other students,” Schlomann said.

Similar scares

Oswego has had a couple similar incidents of bullets being found near schools in recent years.

In January 2009, Oswego East High School was put on lockdown after a student found a bullet inside the school on Harvey Road.

In October 2007, an unfired bullet was discovered outside an entrance to Oswego‘s Thompson Middle School, prompting a similar precautionary lockdown.

That discovery, coupled with rumored threats at Oswego High School around the same time, spurred automated messages to parents and a building-wide search that turned up nothing else of danger to students and staff.