District Photo
The Batavian reached out to Batavia City Schools Superintendent Jason Smith after a false threat by an eight-year-old was made regarding a bomb on a school bus Tuesday.
Smith was not able to immediately respond to The Batavian's questions later Tuesday night, however, he did provide a copy of the letter sent out to district families.
This letter was sent after Batavia Police Department issued a press release regarding the incident.
It is below in its entirety:
To Our BCSD Community,
This afternoon, the Genesee County 911 Center received a call reporting there was a "bomb on a school bus" and placed the location of that bus in the City of Batavia.
The Batavia Police Department and New York State Troopers immediately responded to locate the bus (operated by Student Transportation of America). The bus was found on State Street, and there were no longer any students on the bus after completing the afternoon route.
Out of an abundance of caution, the New York State Police and their K9 unit performed a sweep of the bus in question and found no evidence of a credible threat.
The Batavia Police patrol officers and detectives investigated the call and determined it came from the home of a John Kennedy Intermediate student. The student confessed the call was a prank, and the BPD determined there was no additional threat to the district. The case has been turned over to the Batavia Police Department’s Juvenile Detective. BCSD will follow our Code of Conduct with respect to this incident as well.
All bus pickups will occur as usual tomorrow (Wednesday) without any disruption.
We thank the Batavia Police Department and New York State Police for their swift response.
Jason Smith
Superintendent
