Dozens of Maine schools on Thursday were targeted by an apparently nationwide series of threatening hoax emails, according to officials.
Schools in Regional School Unit 21 in Kennebunk on Thursday were placed under a “hold in place” order following a threat that was received in the morning.
RSU 21 Superintendent Terri Cooper said in a letter sent Thursday to students and staff that the school district received a “bomb threat, which was widely distributed to at least 70 schools across the state,” according to a Newscenter report.
RSU 21 serves Arundel, Kennebunk, and Kennebunkport. The hold in place order means that students will stay where they are at schools, and parents are being asked not to call the school at this time as officials assess whether the threat is credible, WMTW reported.
Blue Hill Consolidated School also received one of the email threats, according to Newscenter. The Hancock County Sheriff’s Department responded and checked the school and determined the threat was a hoax, the NBC affiliate reported.
Union 93 Superintendent Derek Perkins informed families in a letter of a “safety situation” that arose at the school Thursday morning.
“This situation involved an anonymous email that we received through the school’s website,” Perkins wrote, according to Newscenter. “The email contained a threat that we responded to according to our school’s safety protocols. A similar email was received by other schools state-wide.”
Perkins did not respond Thursday afternoon to a message left at his office.
The state’s Maine Information Analysis Center is aware of the threats directed at multiple schools, Maine Department of Public Safety Spokesperson Shannon Moss said.
Emails that were sent nationwide were deemed to be hoaxes, Moss said. Additional investigation is ongoing.
