Jvillemomandad, that's a good idea!!I do hope however that it's just pranks that these kids are doing and that having them walk a mile will/would put an end to it!!

Just some clarification. BASICS staff did not call parents to pick up the children today. The staff called the parents of the remaining children to let them know of the situation. The parents were told that the school was searched again, and found to be safe. Staff was just informing the parents of the situation, and the decision was left up to the parents if they wanted to come pick up their children. The program ran as usual until closing time.

When you make a big deal about it you are bound to have copy cats.

fyi - another threat was found this afternoon. Basics contacted the parents to pick their children up.

Justmythoughts: that is exactly what whoever did this wanted, was for the school to be cancelled. I was lucky enough to be at Parker the year we have 20 some bomb threats. The school FINALLY figured out, that us having school be cancelled was just making these dumb people do it more.. The solution, walking about a mile to various spots while the school was checked. And let me tell you, the bomb threats sure stopped fast.

Irish Mafia,

I don't have a problem with the police department or the way they did their job. And I, like most people do not have a scanner in my home to listen to police calls. I am not a person that needs to know everything that is going on in Janesville. I wouldn't have even been listening to the radio at home before I left that morning because there was no reason for me to suspect anything other (like the possibility of a snow day) than a normal school day. I do however, listen to the radio on the way to take my kids to school. Heck I didn't even care that I heard about it from the Basics Program second hand, I was just grateful that I HAD heard about it. And I don't think that most parents go inside the school to drop off their kids at school. Most drop them off in the driveway and go so even if there had been an officer or someone standing at the door, some would still have not been notified if that is the way it was handled. All everyone is saying is that it would have been nice for parents to know SOMEHOW before their kids entered the school, or on the school grounds to have the option to decide whether their children went or not. They are upset because they found out after the fact. We UNDERSTAND that it was not deemed a credible threat. I was not even that concerned to feel the need to call the police department to find out what was going on. The school told me they were there and looked around and didn't feel it was a credible threat either, more likely it was some punk (or gang) and a hoax. The school also told me the threat was eluded to somewhere OUTSIDE. Now I'm sure the police department has devices or dogs that are trained to look for things. That doesn't mean they are entirely foolproof. There are also kids who catch a bus out front of the school who could have been in danger if was a real threat. I as a parent made a decision based on my own conscience to not send my child regardless. That is a parent's perogative isn't it? Everyone should have been given that choice is all people are saying. Would you trust a gun if you took what you thought were all the bullets out and stick it up to your head and pull the trigger? No. Because you never know. It is always, always better to be safe than sorry. These parents are just saying they didn't want to play Russian Roulette with their children's lives. You certainly can't blame them for that.

The call to the police to investigate at the school happened early in the morning. I heard it on the police scanner shortly after 6am or so. Perhaps the JPD did what they had to to do to determine if the threat was real or a hoax and found the building was safe to enter by the time school was to begin.

Instead of all this petty bitching, why not ask the police what was up? I'm pretty sure they wouldn't put the lives of the staff and children in danger for the sake of keeping things at the school business-as-usual. I know there are a lot of people around here who are anti-law enforcement and anti-authority but get real. The police did their job, no bombs were found, nobody got hurt and we all lived to see another day. If you think you can do a better job...go join the force and show us how it's done.

I am one of the parents from the YWCA Basics program who decided to keep her child home yesterday as a result of the bomb scare. I want to say that I applaud the Basics staff for letting me know when I arrived to drop off my child (because I have no phone)that the incident had occurred. That gave me the information to decide whether or not I wanted to keep my child there for the day. I understood from the Basics staff that they notified most parents by phone before they arrived for the day and that some parents had decided to not send their child(ren) because of it. Since I do not have a phone I arrived as usual and there were no police officers or anything when I got there. I would have not known if the Basics staff had not said anything to me. I agree that the staff of the school cannot contact every parent because they would never be able to reach all parents beforehand. But I do think that the parents do need to be alerted in some way so maybe the school district could have posted something on the radio station like they would a snow day or on the WCLO website. I think we as parents deserve the right to know whether they believe the threat is credible or not. I myself, did not think it was a credible threat from what the staff in the school office told me but decided to keep my child home nonetheless. I felt it was better to be safe than sorry. According to the school staff the inside of the building was secure but the threat eluded to something outside the building. I'm sure the police department checked that area as well and felt it was okay. But how would I have felt if my child went and was playing on the playground and something happened? I would never have been able to live with myself if something had occurred. I do know that whenever a threat is made, that we cannot give our power to whomever made the threat by living in fear. However, as a parent we must all live with our choices and if that means being safe just in case, then so be it. I did however send my child to school today as nothing ended up happening anyway. But you just never know. I said a prayer today just in case either way.

Johnson Creek canceled because they have a "specific" and "credible" threat. They have had two previous "similar, but more general" threats which have NOT closed the schools. They worked with the police and based on THIS particular threat, they made the decision to close the schools (all the schools because they are all in the same area). Kennedy school and the police made their decision based on their particular "non-credible" threat.

It would be NICE if they could notify all the parents, but HOW are they supposed to do that in a timely manner? It seems unreasonable to expect them to be able to call ALL the parents. They called the police, and I guess that in conjunction with the police, the judgment was made that the threat was not credible. I have to trust them with my child every day, why should today be any different? They used their best judgment and I trust that they made the right decision. If the people who were there and saw the threat and the police, who saw the threat and investigated, decided that it was safe, then I have to believe that it WAS safe.

The school was in error when they failed to inform parents of the situation at the begining of the school day. I have ALWAYS been a proud parent of 2 Kennedy students as well as a volunteer to the school when I am able. I believe the staff to be exceptional and very caring. I am very disappointed that they did not allow ME to make the decission on whether I was ok as a parent to have my son attend class today in light of the situation. We are very fortunate today that our children are at home and safe in their beds. I would just like to know IF there is a concern regarding his safety BEFORE the Gazette does.

Johnson Creek just canceled ALL SCHOOLS tomorrow because of a threat!!! It was just all over the news. Maybe thats what Jvl should have done. But no!! They take nothing around here seriously until it's to late...

So what precaution should they have taken that they didn't? They checked all the doors, they searched the school, they checked the alarm system, they called the police, they released it to the newspaper. Now if they had just washed off the crayon and not done anything, it would have been irresponsible, but they did everything they should have. You can't go canceling school every time some bored kid writes something on a door or sidewalk or wherever...or they'd be doing it all the time! They handled it appropriately.

mamabear - you just typed everything that I was going to. The "what if but what if not" mentality is always too late. You can't sit around and say OH we should have or OH we could have. We all need protection - children are the #1 priority. Every precaution should have been made, and it wasn't.........shame on the school district.

I am sure the school felt certain that there was no threat to the children today. I don't think that they are careless about the safety of our children. No doors had been broken into and the alarm didn't go off. If there had been ANY indication that someone had actually been in the school, I'm sure they would have canceled, but there wasn't. I have no problem with the way they handled this situation.

All I have to say is Randolph School...you are EXTREMELY LUCKY nothing came of this. You would be in a heap of a mess!! I am willing to bet you handle things differently in the future, I bet your phones were ringing off the wall this afternoon after parents found out your negligence. Bad choices made to day that is for sure. I am so thankful all of your children are safe, parents....I don't know how you will send them in tomorrow still not knowing what happened...

I have a child in elementary school in Janesville and I think it was very irrisponsible of the school district not to contact parents asap when there is a threat this severe. We as parents have a right to know if our children are in any type of danger. This day and age these threats should be taken very seriously. We all think it will never happen at our schools, in our town or to our kids, but that is what "Columbine" thought at one time also. The schools are always sending home papers and notes about taking time out for our kids, know what they are doing, who do they play with, is school ok, stranger danger, talk to them about drugs. Well I expect the same back from the school let me know if my child is in danger. Please help us keep our kids safe. My child is more important than anybody in this world.

I could not have said it better myself. I found that information sent home today was a little late. I would have felt much better having the information when I dropped my son off rather then when I picked him up. He also would have not been in attendance today.

So when exactly did the school decide that keeping our children, when there was a threat of danger to their health and well being, was a good thing? I am quite appalled that, being a parent of a child in attendance, I heard nothing of it until now. I would not have allowed my child to attend today had I know what was going on. I know that things such as this are considered threats until proven otherwise, but HELLO! What if it wasn't a threat? What if someone had strategically placed a device that WAS NOT FOUND? How many of our children would have to die before they took it seriously? I EXPECT to be notified if there is a possible chance that something like this is afoot, and I believe that most other parents would feel exactly as I do. I have the right as a parent to make the decision of whether or not to allow my child to be there, and I feel as though that decision was taken, and made for me.