News

Fox Creek defends evacuation

Fox Creek High School Principal Dr. Tim Murph spent the latter part of last week defending his decision to evacuate FCHS during a bomb threat at two other county schools.

On Tuesday, April 10, a bomb threat was called into the Edgefield County Sheriff's dispatch involving Merriweather Middle and Merriweather Elementary School.

Despite not being involved in the threat, Fox Creek ordered an evacuation of its students, as well.

Edgefield County School officials said the evacuation went against the advice of the school district office, which asked that all other schools “sit tight” while the situation at the Merriweather schools was handled.

Murph, however, said the district “did not offer a recommendation” when it informed him of the threat.

Per its usual procedure, the school district notified every school in the district - including Fox Creek - about the threat, after being contacted by the Edgefield County Sheriff's Office on the 10th.

“I received word from the school district that the elementary and middle school had received bomb threats,” Murph said. “I asked if Fox Creek had (been threatened) and they said no. I asked them what their recommendation was, and they said they didn't have a recommendation at that time.”

School superintendent Dr. Sharon Keesley said the district called every school as soon as it learned of the threats to speak to school administrators first hand. “We told all of the schools to sit tight, and asked them to monitor their incoming calls,” she said. “We told them that the only two schools involved were Merriweather Middle and Merriweather Elementary, and that we'd call them if anything else came in.”

Murph said his decision to evacuate Fox Creek was based on several factors, including a visitor to the school several weeks ago who had requested an unscheduled interview with Murph.

“Several weeks ago, I had a teacher come in and interview for a position here, and she wasn't on my calendar,” Murph said. “Ten minutes into the conversation, she asked if it was a fifth or sixth grade position ...

“I told her we were a high school. She actually had the school mixed up (with another school).

“Often times, we do have people coming here accidentally ... people do get schools mixed up. Anybody who is crazy enough to do a bomb threat might be crazy enough to get the schools mixed up. That was part of it.”

Murph also said that the fact that both Merriweather schools were mentioned in the threat was also a major factor. “If they had said one school or the other, then we (would not have evacuated),” he said.

Finally, Murph said the connection between FCHS and the Merriweather schools led to the evacuation. “Our parents, when they hear that there is something going on at the elementary school, the first thing they do is come here,” he said. “We're not separate from the elementary school and the middle school.”

Murph said if the bomb threat had been made against other district schools, that would have also changed his decision. “If they had named JET Middle and Strom Thurmond High School, they are so far away, we would not have evacuated,” he said.

Keesley said she chalked up Fox Creek's decision to “erring on the side of caution.”

Still, the superintendent said that if Fox Creek was under the district's direct supervision, she would need to know the specifics of Murph's decision.

“It would be a serious conversation about why they would take the children out,” Keesley said. “I believe you cause a potentially dangerous situation by doing that. People start to react, and overreact, sometimes.

“To be honest, if it were a school I had direct supervision of, I would ask, ‘Why would you do this?'”

School officials said that one of the priorities during a bomb threat is to keep the news of the threat under wraps while law enforcement conducts a search.

“We tried to keep a lid on it as much as we could,” Keesley said of last week's threat. “The media did a good job of keeping it quiet, because they know the (threat of) copy cats. We tried to keep a lid on it ... and cooperate with (police).”

Keesley said she plans to discuss the situation with Murph at their monthly meeting this week. “Dr. Murph is a new administrator, and I know he wanted to err on the side of caution,” she said. “But the principals I supervise know not to do that unless they are involved.”

Keesley said the evacuation of Merriweather Middle and Elementary went smoothly. “We executed our plans, and it went off perfectly,” she said. “The teachers and the administrators did everything (perfectly).”

Murph said he was told that the Fox Creek evacuation compared favorably to the others. “The parents that came to me who have kids at all three schools said our evacuation ran efficiently,” he said. “I would say we came as close to perfect as you can come.”

Murph said a car accident which occurred in front of the school during last week's evacuation was not a result of the evacuation. The accident involved a former student and an FCHS parent who was traveling to the school to pick up a student, he said.

“Yes, there was an automobile wreck, but it ... had nothing to do with us, because it happened about one minute into our evacuation,” Murph said. “It was a coincidence that it happened (at that time).”

According to Murph, Fox Creek's request for law enforcement officials to search its school did not put an undue burden on police. “Some have said that we took away resources from the Edgefield County Sheriff's Office,” Murph said. “That's false.

“After they were ready to go back to Edgefield, they did come here. We might have extended their work day a little bit. But my feeling is it's part of their job, and they seemed to be happy to come to do it.”

Murph said Fox Creek students were “shuttled back and forth for bathroom breaks” during the two-hour evacuation. “The kids were fed lunch, and given drinks,” he said.

Murph said he feels comfortable with his decision. “I've got a building with 240 students ... who look to me to keep them safe,” he said. “Sometimes I have to make decisions based on inaccurate information.

“It's always difficult. At the end of the day, I'm thankful that there was no bomb in any of our Edgefield schools. I think erring on the side of caution is always the best policy.”

Edgefield County Sheriff Adell Dobey said that law enforcement used a bomb detection dog to check Fox Creek High School. It is up to the schools to determine when or when not to evacuate, Dobey said.