Bag
sets off scare at school
Phillipsburg High School
evacuated. "Suspicious" unattended item turns out to be
bowling bag.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005 • By
SARAH CASSI • The
Express-Times
PHILLIPSBURG | A "suspicious package"
discovered behind a door prompted the evacuation Monday of
Phillipsburg High School.
State police determined the package was
an unattended bowling bag with a broken strap, state police
said.
Phillipsburg High Principal Mary Jane
Deutsch said the evacuation was prompted when a school
security guard discovered a luggage-like bag behind a door
in a hallway around 10 a.m.
Deutsch said school officials followed
protocol and notified Phillipsburg police as they escorted
students out of the building.
The students were eventually dismissed
for the day at 11:35 a.m., Deutsch said.
Capt. Robert Mirabelli said the
Phillipsburg Police Department contacted the state police
bomb unit. The unit inspected the package and searched the
building. The building was cleared and by 3:30 p.m. the high
school was open.
"Everything went pretty smoothly,"
Mirabelli said.
Mirabelli said the circumstances of how
the bag ended up behind the door were unclear, and the
incident was under investigation. The package and its
contents were turned over to state police.
"The students were exceptionally
cooperative," Deutsch said, adding that a fire drill was
originally scheduled for the high school today. "It will be
business as usual (Tuesday)."
Parents and students were allowed back
into the high school from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday to retrieve
books and personal items.
Last year a number of bomb scares
prompted evacuations of an elementary school, Phillipsburg
Middle School, the high school and the alternative high
school.
Four bomb threats caused the evacuation
of the middle and high schools over a one week period in
mid-April. Another string of threats from late September to
early October emptied the Green Street School, the middle
school and the high school.
Reporter Sarah Cassi can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by
e-mail at scassi@express-times.com.
© 2005 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
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