No other schools in the district had been affected Monday morning, but these are the fifth and sixth district buildings to be targeted by recent threats within the last week.
The district was in the process of a controlled release to dismiss students to their parents, and a long line of people were waiting at Springfield High School to pick up their children.
Thelma Cobb, who picked up her great-granddaughter at Simon Kenton, said she thinks this is “ridiculous” and “scary.”
“There’s always been discord with immigrants ... It’s just like, we have to stop. We just have to stop. It’s so discouraging and scary that we’re going backwards,” she said.
Cobb said she doesn’t understand the bomb threats, especially with targeting kids.
“I mean, why? They have enough to worry about then they go in the school and they have to do drills for shootings and everything. It’s so scary. (We) just need to come together. That’s all there is ... I just keep praying, that’s all you can do,” she said.
Kristen Karkan, who picked up her 5, 7, and 10-year-olds from Kenwood, said community leaders “have got to do something.”
“This is just ridiculous, it’s got to stop somewhere. I mean, the governments, the city officials, have got to do something about this. I’m pulling my kids out for the rest of the week at least, if not going homeschool for the rest of the year because this is just... it makes me scared to have my kids at school at all ... Something has got to give,” she said.
Last Friday, the district closed Roosevelt Middle School and evacuated Perrin Woods and Snowhill Elementary schools after the city received two bomb threats via email, according to a city release. Cliff Park High School, a charter school outside the Springfield district, was also evacuated.
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