UPDATE: The Cheatham County School District has released the following update:
The safety of our students and staff is one of our top priorities. After students and staff arrived this morning, a voicemail containing threats of mass violence was heard at Kingston Springs Elementary School. Quickly thereafter, it was identified that the same phone number left similar threatening voicemails at West Cheatham Elementary School and Cheatham Middle School. Out of an abundance of caution, students were dismissed while school officials worked closely with the Tennessee Office of Homeland Security and Cheatham County Sheriff’s Office to investigate. With their quick response, a suspect was identified, detained and charged with three counts of threat of mass violence to a school. Meanwhile with the assistance of multiple agencies, including the Tennessee Highway Patrol and Metro Nashville Police Department, explosive detection K-9s cleared the three buildings. With due diligence, our SROs and Cheatham County Sheriff’s Office officials cleared all other buildings.
The identified suspect, an adult living in Robertson County, is in custody, and it has been deemed there is no danger to our school campuses. All activities will resume as originally scheduled on Tuesday, May 20. However, some of our schools might host activities tonight (Monday, May 19) and they will notify their families with additional information.
As a reminder, all threats are taken seriously regardless of the means and intent and those responsible will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Families, we thank you for your outstanding cooperation during this situation.
We are grateful for the swift action taken by our schools and law enforcement, whose professionalism helped ensure the well-being of everyone involved.
ORIGINAL:
The Cheatham County School District announced an early closure of all schools on Monday, May 19, due to a potential threat under investigation.
In a message released to families, school officials said all campuses would close at 11 a.m. “out of an abundance of caution.” Families were allowed to begin picking up students at 10:30 a.m., and buses were scheduled to run regular routes.
The district is working closely with the Tennessee Office of Homeland Security and local law enforcement to assess the credibility of the threat. No details about the nature of the potential threat have been released at this time.
All after-school activities, including the extended daycare program, have been canceled for the day.
“We believe it is in our best interest to close schools,” the district stated. “We will provide information to our families as more details become available.”
Authorities have not stated when normal operations may resume.
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