By Heather McDonald

Stevens Point Area Senior High School (SPASH) officials took no risks with a reported bomb threat to the school this week, increasing police presence in the school and searching bags and packs of those who entered.

Stevens Point Area Public School District staff, police and security check SPASH students’ backpacks as they enter school Wednesday morning, the last day targeted in a bomb threat found in the school just before Thanksgiving break.
(Portage County Gazette photo)

Students entered the school in single file lines to an immediate search area comprised of tables and various police, security and school staff stationed on one side, who, with gloved hands, opened each section of back packs and bags and examined the contents.

SPASH Head of Security Jim Mansavage joked that he wasn’t sure he could search the bag of a student whose backpack was so full it almost burst when he opened the first zippered compartment.

“Where is anything (else) going to go?” the student said with a chuckle.

Lines moved quickly and students chit-chatted like any other day on Wednesday, the final day of the search, seemingly accepting of the new – if temporary – routine.

“We have very little trouble,” Mansavage said, adding that in his roughly 23 years working at SPASH, this was just the fourth such incident he could recall. “We have good kids, we have good parents, and we’re working very hard to resolve this. The kids have just cooperated. They’re awesome.”

To read the rest of the story, pick up a copy of the Portage County Gazette at one of the many newsstands in the area, including gas stations and grocery stores. Or subscribe at shopmmclocal.com/product/portage-county-gazette/ to have weekly copies delivered by mail.

For more information or to subscribe over the phone, call 715-343-8045.