Update: No Bomb Found at Poway High

Updated 2:27 p.m.

A bomb threat forced a lockdown at during testing on Wednesday, but no bomb was found and students were released around noon on what was already scheduled to be a shortened day, officials said.

Authorities cleared the campus without finding a bomb by 1:45 p.m. and no one has been arrested, a Sheriff's Department spokeswoman told Patch just before 2:30 p.m.

The students went on lockdown around 10:50 a.m., according to a text from one PHS student.

Parents were asked to pick up their children at the Titan Way entrance to the school, leading to a bit of a traffic frenzy as students and worried parents tried connect.

"I think it was one of the kids who wanted to get out of testing," Sharon Simmons, 15, said as she peeked her head out of the window of a school bus lined up in front of the campus just after students were released.

Simmons, a sophomore, said students had been taking practice PSATs and were headed to lunch when they were told not to leave the classroom because of a lockdown. Teachers did not say it was a bomb scare, Simmons said, and she only got that detail from other students.

According to another student, classes went on as usual, with classroom doors locked as deputies went around the school. Students were being told they would be let out one classroom at a time, "evacuating room by room," starting shortly after noon.

Parents and relatives crowded on the sidewalk on the south side of Titan Way as the students were released.

Dawn Andrews said she was coming to pick up her grandson from school when she was met by a line of school buses and police cars.

She was puzzled but not alarmed because everything looked calm and
organized, Andrews said.

"I didn't get a sense of panic from the students" or anyone else, she said.

School distrct officials had sent out a message to parents about the threat:

Parents and Families of PHS,

The Poway Sherriff’s department has received a potential threat against our school and has advised us to go to lockdown as a precautionary measure. Sheriffs are currently on campus and we are working cooperatively with them to ensure the safety of our students. We are in contact with our teachers advising them of next steps as we get more information. All students are safe and in classrooms.   

 

We will follow up with communications as we know more.

PHS Administration

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