Superintendent: Bomb scare was a swatting call

Gillett interim Superintendent Wayne Johnson updated the school board on the March 8 bomb scare at Gillett Elementary School, saying that it was a swatting incident, during its March 16 meeting.

Swatting is the action of making a call to emergency services to bring a large number of law enforcement or emergency service employees to an area. Swatting is sometimes done as a prank.

“This is something that is happening across the country,” said Johnson.

Gillett Police Chief Shane Breitenbach said that a call was received around 7:40 a.m. on March 8. With immediate action on the call, both the elementary and secondary schools were evacuated. Students and staff returned to their schools and classes around 11 a.m.

Johnson showed appreciation to law enforcement, the administration team and the Gillett teachers on responding to in the bomb threat and keeping the students safe.

“It was a textbook response of how to respond to that incident,” said Johnson. “Everything worked perfect. (Everyone) did a phenomenal job keeping the students calm, keeping the students safe and taking care of them when they were moved to a new location.”

The Gillett, Suring and Lena police departments, the Oconto County Sheriff’s Department, the Brown County Sheriff’s Department K-9 Unit, the Oconto County Highway Department, Gillett Area Ambulance, City of Gillett and Town of Underhill fire departments all responded to and assisted with the incident.

“The most important thing was that every child and staff member were completely safe and well taken care of through the whole thing,” said Johnson.

lreimer@newmedia-wi.com