Lexington High School was evacuated around 1 p.m. this afternoon after the district received a phone call “indicating that there were bombs” on campus, LHS Superintendent Julie Hackett wrote to the Lexington Public Schools community.
“A complete sweep of the building has been conducted, and there are no safety concerns at this time. Out of an abundance of caution, we will have an increased police presence at our schools tomorrow,” Hackett wrote to the Observer at 2:19 p.m. “The safety of our students and staff is our top priority. We are grateful for the immediate response of the police department and value our strong partnership with them.”
The Lexington Police Department also received a threatening phone call. They alerted the Commonwealth Fusion Center and the Massachusetts State Police, Hackett wrote in her memo. They are working to identify the source of the threat, for whom “there will be steep consequences,” Hackett wrote.
LHS junior Asa Mele (who is the son of LexObserver publisher Nicco Mele) was in English class when people started evacuating.
“Teachers told us to stay put and get down as if they thought it was a shooter or something,” Mele told the Observer. “People were really scared and feeling uncertain.”
Mele said it felt as though “literally nothing was communicated at all.”
He was eventually instructed to go to the field house, which he said was crammed with students. One teacher told him to walk home from there (Mele lives in walking distance from LHS).
LHS junior Declan Feeney (who is the son of LexObserver editor Lauren Feeney) told LexObserver everyone got up and started evacuating as he was eating lunch.
Feeney’s experience in the lunchroom was quite different from Mele’s.
“It wasn’t the same reaction that would happen if there was a shooting, kids were just treating it like it was a fire drill, but teachers were being a lot more pushy,” he recalled.
Like Mele, Feeney was told to go to the field house.
“Teachers told students there was a threat or a rumor and they had to sweep and make sure there wasn’t anything,” he said.
Cameron Hickey, who works out of an office on Muzzey Street, said he saw students flocking down Muzzey Street, away from the high school.
Feeney and his friends decided to go to the library, but many of their classmates walked or drove home. Other students were picked up from the field house or took busses home around 1:30 p.m.
Hackett wrote that there will be no after school clubs, activities, or sports practices at Lexington High School this evening in her memo.
LexObserver’s policy is to ask parents before quoting minors in sensitive situations. To get this story up in a timely manner, LexObserver spoke to Mele and Feeney first.
This is a developing story. LexObserver will provide updates when we have more information.