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WILLIAMSTOWN -- A bomb threat prompted the relocation of Williamstown Elementary School students Wednesday morning, but a search found nothing related to the threat, according to Williamstown Police Chief Shawn Graham.
The incident remains under investigation. Wood County Schools Superintendent Christie Willis said staff returned to the building Wednesday afternoon after authorities cleared the school, and classes were expected to proceed Thursday.
Graham said an unidentified male called the school at 8:56 a.m. and made a threat to school employees. Employees contacted the district's school safety coordinator, who notified police.
Willis said the school initially went into lockdown while district administrators and law enforcement responded.
As officers checked the perimeter, district officials coordinated with the bus garage to have buses wait at the Williamstown rest area until students could be transported to a reunification site, Willis said.
Students were taken to a church, where parents and guardians picked them up.
Responding agencies included the Williamstown Police Department, Wood County Sheriff's Office, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, Williamstown Volunteer Fire Department, Wood County Board of Education and West Virginia State Police, which brought a bomb detection dog, according to the police department's Facebook post.
The agencies assisted with a search of the school. Graham said nothing was found to substantiate the threat.
"The matter still is under investigation, and we're actively working that," he said.
Willis praised school employees for keeping students calm and helping reconnect them with their families.
She said announcing the reunification location was a change from an older protocol under which families did not know where the site was.
"One of the reasons why we announced that is so that parents know where to go," she said. "They know where their kids are going to go."
Staff members also had red backpacks prepared with clipboards and student rosters, allowing them to take attendance and account for students during the relocation. Willis said district officials may consider using that approach countywide.
"They had a checkout system ready to go when they got to the (reunification point), so it worked like clockwork," Willis said. "They were very well prepared."
In its Facebook post, the police department thanked responding agencies, school employees, students and families for their handling of the situation.