BOSTON — Massachusetts State Police say they have responded to reports of bomb threats in 15 different communities Tuesday.
AT A GLANCE: CONFIRMED BOMB THREATS
- Arlington High School
- Ayer High School
- Billerica Memorial High School
- Boston College High School
- Burlington High School
- Fitzgerald School, Waltham
- Groton Middle School
- Monson High School
- Nashoba Valley Tech
- Newton North High School
- Plymouth South Middle School
- Shawsheen Tech
- Swampscott High School
- Taunton Public Schools
- Tewksbury High School
- Weymouth High School
The Mass. State Police Bomb Squad have responded to all the schools, and some have already been cleared, police say.
"This is something that we take very seriously and did not want to take any risks," said Arlington Public Schools superintendent Kathleen Bodie.
Arlington High School was dismissed after they received a bomb threat.
"The threat included a shooting of a student body after an explosive went off. So obviously we took it very seriously," said Arlington police chief Fred Ryan.
Officials say some of the bomb threats were made by phone, and some of those were automated calls.
"Clearly they upped the ante today by threatening to shoot students and that's why we quickly took it very seriously," Ryan said.
These widespread bomb threats follow similar threats made to many of the same schools on Friday. Police say nothing hazardous was found at any of the schools involved in Friday's threats.
"Given recent threats to many regional schools, we chose to act with a great deal of caution in investigating the threat made to Arlington High School today," Arlington Police Chief Frederick Ryan said.
Security is expected to be increased at local schools as the FBI investigates the series of threats against students.