Canyon Middle School Principal Calls 'Terrorist Warning' a 'Bad Decision' Made By Student

Canyon Middle School sent out an automated call to parents Friday evening that two calls were made to the school earlier that day warning that a terrorist attack would take place on campus and suggested students be evacuated.

However, after calling police, the school determined it "wasn't a viable threat," according to principal Mark Croghan.

Around 9 a.m., Croghan said a caller with the voice of a young girl, possibly a student, phoned the school warning about the terrorist attack and urged students be evauated from class immediately.

"There were voices in the background like it was in a classroom," he said.

A few minutes later, the same voice called back with the same warning and request.

Because the school has no caller ID, Croghan said they were unable to trace the number.

He said the incident wasn't necessarily a prank as much as it was "a student making a bad decision."

"Because the kids began to talk about it on campus, we didn't want them to go home and have parents not be informed," he said.

Aside from the automated call, Croghan released the following message on Canyon's Auto Dial Announcements page listed on its website:

March 22, 2012 Canyon Community I want to inform you of an incident that took place on campus today. This morning after school began a call came into the office informing us that we would have a terrorist attack on campus today. The voice was a young girls voice and in the background was noise like a classroom. Five minutes later we received another call from the same female voice. We contacted the police and our school resource officer responded immediately. We interviewed several students and put our campus security and staff on alert. By mid morning students were spreading a rumor that we were going to have an extended spring break because of bomb threat calls to Canyon. This is not true that we are having an extended spring break, but the rumor was spreading. I am confident that our investigation and the work done by the police determined that there was no threat to the students and staff at Canyon. I cannot express how seriously I take incidents like this. I feel that it is important to keep you informed when events happen on campus. We are working with ATT and we feel there is a very good chance that we will determine where the calls came from. If you hear anything that can assist us in our investigation do not hesitate to contact the school at 538-8833. When more information becomes available I will let you know. Mark Croghan Principal