Blissfield police, school respond to threat

Parents of students in Blissfield Public Schools were alerted by Interim Superintendent David Pray this morning (Wednesday, Feb. 11) of a threatening email regarding Blissfield High School.
“I was sent an email (not a phone call or fax) in which I was told ‘a threat(en)ing email was posted anonymously on the After School App regarding Blissfield High School’,” Pray wrote.
Blissfield Police Chief Dale Greenleaf issued a press release that until the threat is disproven, it will continue to be treated as credible.
“A joint investigation between the Blissfield Police Department, the Michigan State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been initiated,” Greenleaf said in the release. “At this time, there is no evidence to support a credible threat, however until the investigation has disproven the threat, we will continue to treat the threat as credible.”
Greenleaf said he had received contact early this morning from Pray of the email and that the school and police department had immediately implemented protocols designed to respond to incidents of this nature.
“The safety of our schools is of paramount importance to the Village of Blissfield,” Greenleaf said, “We take any threat very seriously and ask that anyone with information regarding this threat, or any threat, contact the Blissfield Police Department at (517) 486-4340 or Crimestoppers at (517) 266-6161 or (877) 276-8477.
Pray echoed the chief regarding the credibility of the threat.
“At this time, there is no evidence this is a credible threat, but until we can rule this out completely, we will continue to treat this as a credible threat,” he said.
“Further investigation has found that the company which sent the email ‘After School App’ is an application which Apple has chosen to remove from their sales because of numerous unwarranted threats in other areas of the state and nation,” Pray wrote in a message to the Blissfield Community School District.
To be proactive and as a precautionary measure, Pray said, the village police, Michigan State Police and Lenawee County Sheriff’s Department have begun providing extra patrols on the school campus and will continue to do so for the remainder of the week. In addition, he continued, office staff has taken extra precautions to assure the safety of students and staff of the Blissfield District.