Mayfield High School students were sent home Thursday morning after two threats were made against the school.
According to administrators, the first threat came in Wednesday at 12:35 p.m.
Officials say the board of education received a phone call that indicated a bomb threat. Local police were contacted and the threat was found to be unsubstantiated.
Then, Thursday morning, a high school student showed administrators a non-specific threat against Mayfield High School that was posted to Instagram.
The school said the threat stated, "Don't go to school MHS students on January 28, 2016. Beg you don't die."
As a precaution, the school was placed on a soft lockdown at 9:10 a.m. At that time, the students and staff remained in their classrooms.
All parents and staff in the district were made aware of the lockdown approximately 10 minutes later.
As a safety measure, students were dismissed at 10 a.m. to allow police to sweep the Mayfield High School buildings.
Once the building was cleared, police and K9s began searching the building.
At this time, no threats have been found. By 12:30 p.m. Thursday, district leaders were informed the threat received was confirmed to be a threat that went viral through social media. It is believed it originated outside of Ohio.
“The decision to evacuate was made by district officials with the support of local police as a means to take every precaution necessary to keep our students and staff safe and to allow them to return to a safe and secure learning environment,” said Superintendent Keith Kelly. “I want to reiterate these actions will not be tolerated and any and all perpetrators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
Mayfield High School said it will resume classes on Friday following a clean sweep by local police and trained canines.
Anyone with information is asked to call police at 440-461-1234.
