Eau Claire High School cancels class

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — School has been canceled for students at Eau Claire High School after officials originally delayed the start of classes due to a suspicious package. “The good news is that we have a plan in place for this kind of event and it’s a quick response and I’m always comforted by that,” says Roderick Brown, Teacher at Eau Claire High School. Eau Claire teacher, Roderick Brown, is talking about the suspicious package found at the high school Monday morning. Police say a box with wires coming out of it was found on the school’s front steps. “It’s a very serious offense, we take this very seriously, it’s a criminal offense it you call in a bomb threat to any sort of school,” says Jennifer Timmons with the Columbia Police Department. School officials say a janitor found the package. “During the initial sweep of the campus of the buildings and grounds,” says Karen York, spokesperson for Richland School District 1. A note with the box was also found nearby, but police are not releasing the contents. School officials immediately issued a two hour delay, while the nearly one hundred students already on campus were taken to other schools. Classes were later canceled after school officials learned the investigation could take several hours. Meanwhile, police used a robot to detonate the package. “We’ve got Columbia Police Department here, Columbia Fire Department, Richland County Sheriff’s Department, SLED, FBI AND ATF, so it was a collaborative effort to render this package safe,” says Timmons. Monday’s event left some wondering if this was the real deal or a spooky joke. “I guess we’re all wondering if this is just a Halloween prank or something but we’ll find out soon enough,” says Brown. A school spokesperson says event like these are rare. Also, classes will resume tomorrow on a normal schedule.