PRINCE ALBERT — Parents from Ecole Valois are relieved after a bomb threat on Dec. 13 turned out to be a false bomb call.
Students at Ecole Valois School in Prince Albert were temporarily evacuated following reports of a bomb being in the school.
Roger Boucher the President of the Parents Council said that the event was handled well by parents, teachers and students for being such a volatile situation.
Boucher said that the whole situation was handled with the utmost professionalism
"I think that they did a really good job and I mean I can understand how parents were scared and stuff like that because it makes sense because it is a scary situation
“I am just really happy it all turned out well,” Boucher said.
"I was going to say all of the parents I know or talk to were all happy with how it was dealt with and the results of everything, yeah it's a scary situation but we're really happy with how the school dealt with it,” he explained.
"The kids were all very well behaved, they didn’t necessarily know what was going on but they did a really good job even through the uncertainty of the event. So I think it was a very positive thing for the you know like it's not necessarily a positive thing for the school,” Boucher said.
“Everyone dealt with the situation in a very positive way and that's something to be very proud of,” Boucher said.
The Prince Albert Police Service (PAPS) was called to the school at around 1:30 p.m. following reports of a bomb. Students had already evacuated by the time officers arrived.
According to a PAPS press release, police found no explosive devices inside or outside the school. Specially trained officers then conducted a comprehensive secondary search, and again found no explosive device.
PAPS has identified and located at least one suspect in relation to the incident, but are continuing to investigate. In the press release, the police said there was no risk to public safety.
Boucher explained that because of his job he does not frequently check notifications or texts or emails and does not check his phone.
"You know for me I was pretty oblivious. I got a call from my kid's mom basically saying ‘what's going on with the school’, and me saying ‘I don't what you're talking about” because I don't check my emails they like every five ten minutes and I don’t get the notifications. I check texts maybe hours after I get them,” he said.
He said that he had not seen the notifications but found out the students were evacuated.
"I found out that they were safe at a different location that wasn't disclosed to us until the school was allowed to,” Boucher said.
He explained that staff at the school were dealing with police and evacuated the students to Riverside School and everyone in the school was safe and accounted for.
“And after Riverside did all of their pickup. I know got allowed to come and pick up their children from Riverside,” Boucher said.
"And I mean the situation is scary especially when it's like ‘okay what's going on here a bomb threat what?’ but you know is this real or is it a joke and fortunately it turned out to be a joke but you take everything like that seriously and you deal with it,”
"I’m very happy with how the school dealt with it and how it all panned out and how the police dealt with it ,”
PAPS has identified and located at least one suspect in relation to the incident, but are continuing to investigate. In the press release, the police said there was no risk to public safety.
PAPS put traffic restrictions in place on the 400 Block of 10th Street East and asked the public to avoid the area that afternoon. That evening the school has been declared safe and traffic restrictions have been lifted.
