Semiahmoo Secondary

students were evacuated

Monday after police were

notified of a bomb threat

against the school.

After an extensive search,

no danger was found.

Surrey RCMP Sgt. Roger

Morrow said the threat came

in via a third-party e-mail

just before noon, prompting

an immediate call for school

officials to clear the building.

“We just heard over the

PA to get out of the school,”

student Jackie Mack said,

standing with friends across

the street from the school

shortly after being notified.

“We had to get off the

school grounds.”

The announcement came during the lunch

hour.

“They were yelling at us to get out of the

school, screaming at us to get off

the grounds,” said Daniel Fowler,

a Grade 12 student.

Mack and Fowler said school

officials gave no explanation of

why the quick evacuation was necessary,

only that it was “not a drill” and that

students had to get at least a block away

from the school.

School district spokesperson Doug

Strachan said the hasty action was typical of

any evacuation.

“As part of an evacuation you don’t want

to delay,” Strachan said. “That’s what an

evacuation is.”

The alert did not extend to neighbouring

H.T. Thrift Elementary or any other southend

schools.

H.T. Thrift officials were asked to

accommodate some of the high

school’s special-needs students.

Seven RCMP patrol cars were

on the scene, as well as two police

dog teams. The search of the

school was finished by about 4 p.m.

Strachan said students were back to the

books Tuesday.

“Everything’s back to normal and a letter

will go home today,” Strachan said.

Morrow noted while such threats are

always taken seriously, they rarely escalate

beyond the initial threat.

“I’m not aware of any that have ever been

actualized,” Morrow said.