A heavy police and fire department response was sent to Daniel Wright Junior High School in Lincolnshire after a bomb threat prompted the evacuation of the school Monday morning.
Superintendent of District 103 Schools Scott Warren sent a message to families in the district about the situation.
Warren said Daniel Wright Junior High School received a computer-recorded voicemail message saying there was a bomb in the building.
District 103 Communications Coordinator Margaret Van Duch said the message, left on the student attendance line, was received at 7:34 p.m. Sunday but was not listened to until 7:30 a.m. Monday.
School officials immediately evacuated the school and notified the police, Warren said.
Police departments from throughout Lake and Cook counties responded to the school around 8 a.m. Monday.
Numerous fire departments from throughout the area were also dispatched to the school.
Emergency crews are actively searching the building and investigating the origin of the threat.
A Great Lakes police bomb-sniffing canine is also searching the building and surrounding property, Van Duch said.
Warren said in the message to parents that children who were not already at the school should be kept home.
Students who were on the bus or already at the school were taken to a secure location away from the school.
“We will reach out to families to pick up students later this morning,” Warren said.
There were no threats made to Sprague and Half Day Schools, which were operating normally on Monday.
Warren said the school would update parents as soon as they had additional information and asked parents not to call the school.
School officials at South Elgin High School also reported a bomb threat toward the school Monday morning.
They said they received an anonymous bomb threat call believed to be a “swatting” incident. It is unclear whether the threats at both schools are related.