Wilkinson County Schools Dismissed after Threat

IRWINTON, Georgia(41 NBC/WMGT)- Wilkinson County Schools were dismissed just after 2:00pm Friday afternoon, for some sort of emergency. A teacher at Wilkinson Primary School told a 41 NBC employee who has a child there, that it was a bomb threat. But that has not been independently confirmed with the police department or sheriff’s office.

The 41 NBC employee described the scene as an “absolute madhouse,” with no structure or organization as parents frantically picked up their children from panicked teachers and administrators.

According to Wilkinson County School Superintendent Secretary Ruth Sapp, schools were dismissed at 2:15 pm, and teachers were calling parents to pick up their children because the “OneCall” system was not working.

A couple of parents whose 4-year-old Pre-K son was sent home from school say they weren’t notified that he was coming home, and they’re angry about that.

“They put my 4-year-old son on a bus and sent him home, and ain’t called to verify that anybody was there,” says parent Roy Flowers. “It was just the luck of the draw that we happened to be there to pick my child up…They gonna have a problem if they send my child home again without contacting somebody.”

Despite the initial report, however, Superintendent Aaron Geter assures 41NBC the “OneCall” system was in fact working, but that there could have been discrepancies in the information on that system.

“When you’ve got all these numbers in the system, and then some numbers be correct, some may not, technology glitches, calls may not go through properly,” says Geter. “I wanna sincerely apologize to those parents, every effort was made to try to make sure that their kids get home as safe as they came to school.”

This statement was sent to 41 NBC news by Wilkinson County Spokesman Jonathan Jackson:

“Wilkinson County Public Schools were released early Friday afternoon.
Students and faculty were sent home after administration learned of a
potential threat made against one of the system’s campuses.
Superintendent Dr. Aaron Geter said the system followed protocol and
alerted the Wilkinson County Sheriff’s Office. Geter said authorities
were gathering information about the potential threat Friday
afternoon. Students and staff left the schools with approximately one
hour left in the school day. Geter said his office would make more
information available once the campuses were officially cleared by law
enforcement.”

The Wilkinson County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the threat, and will send more details about it as they become available.