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RSU 25 reviews response after social‑media threat forces mid‑day dismissal at Bucksport High School
Summary
The superintendent told the RSU 25 board that a Sept. 24 social‑media threat prompted administration and Bucksport Public Safety to dismiss Bucksport High School mid‑day; the district debriefed, said Homeland Security was assisting investigators, and identified parent messaging and phone lines as areas for improvement.
The superintendent reported that a social‑media threat received on Sept. 24 led administration and Public Safety to dismiss Bucksport High School mid‑day rather than relocate students.
According to the superintendent, administrators and public‑safety officials treated the message as potentially credible, prioritized student safety and had every student out of the building by about 11:28 a.m. The superintendent said the decision to dismiss rather than send students to another building reflected concern the threat could have been inside the school and thus would travel with any evacuation. The presentation credited Bucksport Public Safety for rapid coordination and calm on‑site work and said Homeland Security was assisting cross‑state investigative work.
Board members pressed staff about transportation and parent communications. District staff said roughly 10 buses were mobilized quickly (the district has about 22 buses in its fleet), routes were consolidated and some town drivers who retain licenses were brought in to help. Trustees and staff discussed the difficulty of quickly sending clear, building‑specific messages to families when the district manages multiple school sites; one board member described a roughly 45‑minute lag between the message sent to the high school and messages to other schools.
The superintendent acknowledged the district’s emergency templates are useful as starting points but often need rewriting for real incidents, and said debriefs with Public Safety and internal safety committees have identified communication as an area to refine. "It allowed us to practice our safety protocols," the superintendent said, adding staff and students "did a phenomenal job." The district told the board it planned further follow‑up with Public Safety and its Safety Committee to update procedures and communications.
The board did not take a formal, public vote on operational changes at the meeting; the superintendent said investigators had made progress in identifying persons of interest but that cross‑state inquiries take time.
