Bomb threat evacuates Excelsior Middle School

MARION - Excelsior Middle School was evacuated Monday after the school received a bomb threat.

Linn-Mar Community School District superintendent Quintin Shepherd said a bomb threat was called into the district shortly after noon on Monday.

Shepherd said all staff and students were immediately evacuated under a fire drill and district officials notified Lowe Park that they were evacuating to that site. Shepherd said the district waited to notify parents and guardians that their students could be picked up from Lowe Park until all students had been relocated to the park so as to prevent any traffic issues.

Students who were not picked up early were sent home on their normal bus routes from Lowe Park, Shepherd said.

'All of our staff and students are safe,” he said. 'That's what's really, really important about this whole situation.”

Shepherd said about a dozen police officers, along with K-9s, responded to the school to do a sweep. He said he expects school to go on as scheduled Tuesday.

'There has been no indicate of a bomb in the building,” he said.