CRIME

Oakwood school evacuated after threat

Nathaniel Shuda, and Noell Dickmann

The Northwestern

Oakwood Elementary School, 1225 N. Oakwood Road, town of Algoma

TOWN OF ALGOMA — The Winnebago County Sheriff's Office evacuated Oakwood Elementary School for about three hours Monday afternoon because of a threatening phone call.

The school, at 2862 Omro Road, received the call about 11:50 a.m. Monday, Superintendent Stan Mack II said. School officials immediately implemented a "soft lockdown" and began evacuating about 12:50 p.m., sending 42 staff members and 473 students to the Oshkosh YMCA on 20th Avenue.

By mid-afternoon, about half the students had been reunited with their families, Mack said.

The sheriff's office, along with the Brown-Outagamie Bomb Squad and school staff members, searched the school, according to a news release from the Oshkosh Area School District.

Winnebago County Sheriff's Capt. Mark Habeck did not know whether the phone call was related to other threatening calls to Wisconsin schools on Monday.

"We're focused right now just on our call and our incident and how that may or may not relate to theirs," Halbeck said. "I cannot speculate at this time."

Classes will resume Tuesday as normally scheduled, according to the school district's news release.

At the YMCA, authorities directed parents to pick up their children in the Spirit, Mind and Body room. There, teachers handed out forms for parents to fill out that identified themselves, the child they were picking up and their relationship. Then teachers checked parents' identification and brought the children out from a separate room.

It was a calm, well-organized effort, family members picking up children said.

Fourth-grader Dominic was so excited to see his mom, Amanda Weitz, that he ran out to greet her with open arms and a big smile.

Weitz said she received a call from the district notifying her to pick up her child at the YMCA because of a bomb threat made by phone.

"I was pretty panicked, but I knew that the school had it under control," she said. "He was already evacuated so I knew he was safe."

Buses pulled into the parking lot about 2:30 p.m. to take children home whose parents couldn't pick them up.

Oakwood Elementary School parents and relatives filled out forms Monday, May 23, 2016, to pick up their children at the Oshkosh YMCA on 20th Avenue. Authorities evacuated the town of Algoma school after office staff received a phone call indicating a threat.

Nathaniel Shuda: 920-426-6632 or nshuda@thenorthwestern.com; on Twitter: @onwnshuda. Noell Dickmann: 920-426-6658 or ndickmann@thenorthwestern.com. Follow @ONW_Noell on Twitter.