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ALPENA -- Alpena high school and junior high students will return to classrooms on Monday after verbal threats by Alpena Public Schools students caused school officials to close several school buildings for two days.
Officials announced on Friday that the district had completed a review of threats made by two students on Wednesday. The threats prompted the closure of Thunder Bay Junior High School and Alpena High School on Thursday and Friday.
Police and school officials investigated the threats, including a search of the junior high building by a Michigan State Police K-9 unit. Police cleared the school district to allow classes to resume on Monday, APS Director of Communications Lee Fitzpatrick said on Friday afternoon.
The closure also impacted ACES Academy, housed at the Alpena High School building.
After school hours on Wednesday, several sources told school officials about a school-related threat made by a student during the school day. Officials immediately contacted police, who began an investigation, according to Fitzpatrick.
Later that evening, someone contacted the Michigan State Police to report a separate threat made during the school day by a junior high school student.
Though occurring on the same day, the threats were not connected, Fitzpatrick said.
According to a Thursday news release from APS, both threats involved guns.
Fitzpatrick would not share the ages of the students or whether the threats were against specific individuals, citing the police's continued investigation.
First Lt. John Grimshaw, commander of the MSP-Alpena Post, anticipates that police will complete their investigation into the threats next week and submit reports to the prosecutor's office to request criminal charges against the students.
Police around the state have arrested or charged dozens of students for allegedly threatening schools following a Nov. 30 shooting at Oxford High School.
Police say 15-year-old Oxford student Ethan Crumbley shot and killed four students and wounded seven others. The teen has been charged as an adult with murder, terrorism, and other crimes, and his parents face involuntary manslaughter charges for failing to intervene with their son and failing to secure the firearm used in the attack.