Misunderstood voicemail leads to bomb scare

Ferdinand —A misunderstood voicemail emptied Forest Park Junior-Senior High School this morning.

According to Superintendent Rick Allen, a student phoned her mother from a classroom phone to bring something to school. When the answering machine at home picked up the call, the student repeatedly said “mom” to hopefully get her mom to answer.

When the mother played back the garbled message and she heard the word “bomb” instead of “mom”, she contacted a Ferdinand officer who reported it to 911 at about 10:27 a.m. The Dubois County Sheriff’s Department, Ferdinand Police Department, Ferdinand Volunteer Fire Department, Indiana State Police and Memorial Hospital Emergency Medical Services responded to the school.

Authorities evacuated the students to locations off the high school campus (Allen stated they would rather not make those locations public for the safety of the students) and were sweeping the building when the student and mother confirmed the misunderstanding.  Students began moving back into the building at 11:15 a.m. after authorities gave the all clear.

“The teachers have their plan, we practice this regularly,” Allen said. “I’m very proud of our students and kids and how they handled the situation.”