Editor’s Note: The Hilton Central School District held a virtual meeting Friday evening. The full video will be uploaded to this page shortly.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Police are investigating after another bomb threat was issued against the Hilton Central School District.
The new threat was sent out to News 8 Friday morning saying that a bomb was planted at all five schools of the district and that Molotov cocktails will be thrown into the school district’s office. The new threat says that this is due to the school exposing children to “pornographic material.”
“I am saddened that we are again in the receipt of such a threat,” said Superintendent Casey Kosiorek. “It was our intention to hold as normal of a school day as possible, given the lack of credibility in the threat. Had I known this morning the degree of disruption today’s events would’ve caused, I would have closed school.”
Superintendent Kosiorek says that the district has no plans to move classes online. However, community members concerned with these threats are welcome to attend a virtual meeting that will be held Thursday evening at 6:00 p.m.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office notified the district and after a K-9 unit swept the buildings, the threat was deemed not credible. MCSO adds that the investigation into the source of the threat remains ongoing.
In an email sent out to parents, district officials say that all Northwood and Village students were kept inside school buses in the bus loops, Quest was put on a two-hour delay, and Merton-Williams Middle School and Hilton High School were on lockout.
Students were then allowed back into the buildings once the sweep was concluded. Classes resumed as normal and after-school activities will still happen.
MCSO says that these threats are part of a series of automated overseas emails and they have not determined if local suspects are connected to this threat. Investigators will continue to look into the origin of these emails.
The first threat occurred on Wednesday when some local media outlets received an email saying that they placed pipe bombs at each of the schools of the Hilton Central School District. All schools were evacuated and closed for the day. Classes resumed the following day.
According to the first threat, the district had an LGBTQ+ book titled “This Book is Gay,” which was the reason why the anonymous writer made the threat. MCSO says that both emails appear to have originated from the same domain.
Superintendent Kosiorek says that the district will continue to work to make sure that students who identify as LGBTQ+ feel welcome at Hilton’s public schools.
“I would tell the students of the district that belong to that community that they are welcome here at Hilton Central School District as students within our public schools,” Kosiorek said. “We love them as we love our other students. We are absolutely sorry that a debate around a piece of literature is making them feel as if they are not included or welcome.”
FULL HILTON CSD VIRTUAL MEETING
FULL FRIDAY AFTERNOON PRESS CONFERENCE:
Check back with News 8 as we continue to update this developing story.
