“Earlier this evening, a social media post was circulated that possibly warned of a threat to our school community,” the district posted Wednesday. “The district immediately contacted the Hamilton Police Department of the potential threat and HPD is investigating the post.”
The district said additional security was present at the schools Thursday.
Late afternoon Thursday, Hamilton Schools Superintendent Mike Holbrook released a statement saying the threat was disproved by Hamilton City Police.
“After working with the (police) for the past 18 hours, the investigation has had no findings of a credible threat to students, district, or community,” wrote Holbrook.
“The district will always attempt to communicate information promptly, and this situation was difficult due to the timing of information available and the beginning of the school day.”
“Out of an abundance of caution, the district will continue with additional security measures and protocols in our school buildings for the foreseeable future,” he said.
Hamilton Sgt. Rich Burkhardt said school district officials called HPD after a student contacted the schools about a Snapchat post concerning Hamilton High School.
A detective worked through the night trying to track down the source of the threat.
Additional school resource officers were moved to Hamilton High Thursday and all students were “checked” before entering the building, Burkhardt said.
This threat comes a day after social media threats concerning multiple schools in the region, including neighboring Fairfield City Schools.
Fairfield administrators announced Wednesday that a social media threat had been received the night before and increased security would continue in the district through Friday. Fairfield Police and Fairfield Twp. Police are investigating that incident.
Thursday afternoon, Fairfield Police said they have determined the the threat originated outside of Ohio. They said they are still working to determine who is responsible for the threat and why the specifically chose Ohio.
Franklin City Schools officials on Wednesday investigated an alleged threat against students and staff at Franklin High School.
At about 9:10 a.m., school officials said a student reported seeing a post on social media containing threatening remarks about a potential school shooting.
Also this week, Triad High School in Champaign County dealt with a threat about a shooting, and the student who allegedly made that threat is barred from school and faces multiple criminal charges.
Triad Local School administrators notified the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office school resource officer assigned to the district at about 6:55 p.m. Monday about a threat made to the high school involving two juvenile students.
“One of the students made a threatening comments about committing a shooting at Triad High School,” according to a release from the sheriff’s office.
Deputies initiated an immediate investigation into the allegation, and quickly identified and found a suspect — a Triad High School student.
The student’s parents were made aware of the threats and the student was barred from school until further notice.
Deputies and detectives were at school Tuesday to ensure the safety of students and staff, the release stated.
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