TOPSHAM

Yet another threat reported at Mt. Ararat High School prompted students and staff to shelter in place Tuesday.

But, school administrators and police quickly determined there was no threat and school continued.

The matter arose around 11 a.m. and the report stemmed from a text message.

“We had a situation that is now resolved at the high school. A communication between two girls was taken as an indication of (a) potential problem,” Maine School Administrative District 75 Superintendent Brad Smith stated on the district’s Facebook page. “A student reported to an administrator that there was a threat and to leave the school.”

The decision was made to shelter students “in place,” which limited their movement within the building while police attempted to locate the person who sent the original message.

According to Topsham Police Chief Chris Lewis, the student who sent the initial message had left the school campus at the time the threat was reported and wasn’t aware there was an issue. She is cooperating with police.

Smith said the student who received the original message acknowledged they misunderstood the message, “and things are back to normal.”

“There was no threat,” Smith stated, noting he and Lewis had reviewed the text.

Smith told The Times Record that in the text message, “there was a reference to leaving the building,” as the sender had left the school building. “I think it was the misunderstanding around leaving the building that caused the receiver to read more into that than what was there.”

The incident came a day after Topsham police arrested Jonas Cloukey, 19, of Bowdoinham, after investigating an alleged threat against the high school via social media.

Police say Cloukey was charged with terrorizing, a Class C crime punishable by up to 5 years incarceration and a $5,000 fine. Bail was set at $5,000. Police say Cloukey was able to post bail following his arrest. He is scheduled to appear May 8 in West Bath District Court.

Five times in less than three weeks

Tuesday’s report marks the fifth time in the last two-and-a-half weeks that the district has investigated threats of violence. On Feb. 15, a day after 17 people will killed in a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, police and school officials investigated two complaints of threats at Mt. Ararat High School, stemming from social media posts.

The next day, Feb. 16, a bomb threat was investigated at Woodside Elementary School; the school was evacuated, but no bomb was found.

“There is so much anxiety right now and then, people start spreading misinformation and kids get on their cellphones and I understand that, I really do,” Smith said. “When we’re afraid for the safety of our kids, or emotions are going to become heightened.”

Yet school officials can’t start issuing statements until verifying what they’re really up against, he said, or they will just create more anxiety and misinformation.

“That will be the challenge as we try to deal with the whole social media and technology piece,” Smith said.

School violence can’t be discussed without talking about issues surrounding gun control, gun ownership and mental health, he added, so it becomes a very polarized issue.

There has been discussion about a youth-organized national walkout event for students on March 14, which Smith said he doesn’t look at as a push for gun control.

“I see kids saying, ‘I want to be safe in our school. You’re the lawmakers, so whatever the answer is, figure it out,’” he said.

After this latest tragic school shooting, Smith said he feels differently, “because kids are speaking up and that gives me at least more hope that whatever the solution is, or multiple solutions, maybe there will be a way for some of those to happen.”

After the recent rash of threats in MSAD 75, Smith said the school administration will continue to take threats seriously and remind students of the importance of reporting them.

He does worry about how reports of school violence are processed by young people, who may not have the ability to process and compartmentalize these tragedies the way adults do.

“What I worry about is that for our students, this has become the new normal,” Smith said. “These are kids who have grown up since Columbine, so as often as things like Parkland are happening, as often as school violence gets reported and talked about, (I worry) that this becomes the way schools are, and that’s not OK with me.”

dmoore@timesrecord.com