An elementary school in Highland Park was evacuated for the second day in a row following another bomb threat, which comes a week after a controversial social media post went viral referencing the school.
The Highland Park Police Department responded around 10:30 a.m. Friday to Red Oak Elementary School, 530 Red Oak Lane in Highland Park, for a report of a bomb threat.
The school said in a statement that the building has been evacuated and students have been relocated.
Officers and detectives, along with canine units, were spotted at the school campus.
Residents in the immediate area are advised to avoid Red Oak Lane, which is closed at Rosemary Road and Ridge Road.
“We again urge parents, guardians and other visitors to avoid coming to the school or relocation site at this time,” the school said in their statement.
Students at nearby Sherwood Elementary School are not evacuating.
City officials said the bomb threat is the second to have been made following the one Thursday morning.
During that incident, a local news organization reported to investigators that they received an email indicating a bomb threat at the school.
The investigation showed similar emails threatening other public buildings across the country were sent to a number of organizations nationwide within the same timeframe Thursday.
Thursday’s search did not locate any devices in the school and the threat was deemed not credible.
It is unknown whether the Friday bomb threat was transmitted in the same way.
Last Friday, “Libs of TikTok” published a post on X, formerly Twitter, with a photo of a classroom that had a pride flag hanging up.
“Why would an elementary school have a massive progress pride flag hanging above students’ heads all day?” the post said before referencing “Red Oak School.”
The post did not specifically say it was Red Oak Elementary School in Highland Park or whether it was a different Red Oak School.
The post received almost 600,000 views, nearly 11,000 likes, over 3,000 shares and more than 2,000 comments.