GRAY — For the second time in three weeks of school, students at Gray-New Gloucester Middle School were evacuated because of a bomb threat.

SAD 15 superintendent Craig King said students were evacuated to the high school on Tuesday, March 20 — as they were on Wednesday, March 7.

According to a press release from the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, the threat this week was first reported by several middle school students who found a bomb threat written in a boys’ bathroom stall in the eighth-grade wing.

“School officials evacuated the school, which was closed for several hours while Deputies and two K-9 teams from the Maine State Police conducted a search,” said the release. “No explosives were found.”

The Sheriff’s Office is still investigating the incident, the release continued.

In a message to the community later on Tuesday, King said the district will be holding a school safety community dialogue event on Tuesday, April 24 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Middle School gym.

King said that the event will include a discussion of the SAD 15 safety plan; practices, policies and procedures for keeping district students safe; school violence prevention best practices; what school employees, parents and students can do to promote school safety; communication during an emergency; and a question and answer segment.

“As you most probably know by now, the middle school has had its second bomb threat this month,” King said. “I take great pride in informing the public about all the positive things that happen in our schools each day. Unfortunately, based on these two incidents and the growing national anxiety around school violence, I feel it is time our school community has a dialogue.”

The Sheriff’s Office said that a 13-year-old male middle school student was identified as a suspect in the March 7 incident and was charged with class C terrorizing. No information about a possible suspect in the March 20 incident was immediately released.

Matt Junker can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 123 or mjunker@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @MattJunker.

Gray-New Gloucester Middle School