SALEM–All students were safely evacuated after a bomb threat canceled classes for the day and forced a change in polling location at Salem Junior/Senior High School Tuesday.

“We had a lot of agencies collaborating to make sure all our kids were safe,” said schools Superintendent Sean Kirkland.

Kirkland said that the threat was made to the Salem Police Department through the 911 emergency line and that the call had been taken directly by Police Chief J.T. Panezott, who considered the call a viable threat and contacted the school administration, who ordered the evacuation of all students and staff.

Kirkland said the district has protocols in place to respond to emergency situations of this nature that were swiftly and efficiently enacted, evacuating all students and staff in the building to the First Christian Church located across the street from the high school with no injuries or issues.

The polling location for precincts 3B and 3C was also moved to the church where voters were deciding on the district’s new building levy.

“The evacuation could not have run any smoother. I was extremely proud of the staff and students; they were very focused and very serious in their response. We had over 600 kids evacuated to the church and safely taken home by 9:10 a.m., and that is due to their training and how serious and focused they were in their response,” said Kirkland.

Kirkland’s praise for the evacuation process was shared by Panezott, who said he “couldn’t be any more proud” of the administration and teachers at the school for how they responded to the situation. Panezott said that because the staff had handled the evacuation so well, emergency response personnel had been able to primarily focus their attention on the investigation. Panezott also noted that the department had sent officers to the rest of the schools in the city to keep them appraised of the situation.

“It became so crystal clear how much those teachers care about our kids,” said Panezott.

Gratitude proved to be a theme in Panezott’s comments, as he also wanted to thank the parents of the affected students for their patience and collaboration during the situation, noting that while the department always does it’s best to keep parents and the community informed, and get information out to them as quickly as possible, situations of this nature can be confusing and unclear.

Panezott also said he couldn’t thank the staff of First Christian Church enough, noting that they had assisted with and facilitated the use of the church as the evacuation and pickup location, and housed the students within the building to keep them safe and warm during the pickup process.

Panezott said there were so many people and organizations that participated in the evacuation and emergency response and evacuation to make sure it was a success and that he wanted to express his gratitude to all of them for their efforts.

“I’d like to thank everyone that stepped up and helped today. There were so many of them and we truly appreciate it,” said Panezott.

Kirkland said a full sweep was conducted of the building following the evacuation with every locker, room and floor of the school checked by the responding agencies, including the deployment of bomb-sniffing dogs from the Youngstown Bomb Squad. Panezott noted the explosive-sniffing dogs from the Canfield and Akron Children’s Hospital police departments and the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office were also deployed.

The emergency response and investigation were a collaborative effort with agents from the Salem police and fire departments, the Canfield Police Department, the East Palestine Police Department, the Youngstown Bomb Squad, the Akron Children’s Hospital Police Department, the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Ohio Attorney General’s Office all participating.

Panezott said he was very happy with how well all the agents on scene had been able to work together and collaborate to ensure the safety of students and staff.

Panezott said the police department currently had an out of state suspect they were pursuing in conjunction with the FBI and that they hoped to make an arrest soon. He said the department would be pursuing “the most serious charges available to them.”

“We take this very seriously and will use every asset available to us to track this down,” said Panezott.

Panezott noted that much of the investigation in this case will be done through digital forensic analysis.

All evening athletic and school events moved forward for those who still wanted to participate. Classes are scheduled to resume as normal today.