Tracy Unified School District spokeswoman Jessica Cardoza said that at 11:30 a.m., a student was looking into another student’s backpack during class when he saw the speaker and shouted, “Hey there’s a bomb in here.”
Cardoza would not give the grade level of the class involved, but said it was an average class size of 20 to 32 students. The school has approximately 850 students in sixth to eighth grades. She also would not release information about the students involved.
The teacher evacuated the classroom and notified the school office, which then called Tracy police.
Students at the campus were told to shelter in place until the police arrived, which means they kept in place without the school doors being locked. That differs from a lockdown when doors are locked and students shelter underneath their desks, Cordoza said.
Tracy police had school officials evacuate students using fire drill procedures.
Cardoza said officers determined the item that prompted the student’s shout was a speaker from an iPod. There were no wires attached to the speaker, she said.
Students were allowed to return to the classroom after several minutes. A phone message was sent to all Monte Vista families informing them of the situation. Cordoza said the district takes any potential threat to student safety seriously.
Tracy police closed Tracy Boulevard and Lowell Avenue next to the campus while they investigated.
Messages left with the Tracy police seeking comment have not been returned as of Thursday afternoon.
• Contact Glenn Moore at 830-4252 or gmoore@tracypress.com.
Glad to read it was only a false alarm. Nowadays you just never know.
You can go around being horribly upset because you were almost late to pick up your 3 year old (a tragedy of not so epic proportions) or you can just be happy it didnt turn out to be a real bomb (a real potential tragedy).
A person who confuses an IPOD speaker with a bomb needs to be checked out for developmental issues.
And the winner who is the teacher. What did she just freak out like a neurotic soccer mom, with out even investigating what all the hoopla was about?
Behold the circus that is Tracy Unified.
And they wonder why everyone tries to live south of Shulte to get into the Jefferson School District.