Photo: Belmont High School on the first day of the 2021-22 school year.

Due to a phoned in bomb threat, classes at Belmont High School have been cancelled for today, Wednesday, May 11, according to an email from Principal Isaac Taylor. Four Belmont Police vehicles and a Belmont Fire engine are at the school on Concord Avenue investigating the threat.

“Out of an abundance of caution the school department has elected to close the school for the day,” noted the Belmont Police twitter account.

Taylor said in his email that he was working on “how we will reschedule AP exams that were supposed to be taking place today.”

Chenery Middle School and Belmont’s four elementary schools remain open.

“At no time were there any threats or concerns for our elementary and middle school buildings,” said Belmont Superintendent John Phelan.

Update: 1 p.m.

The Belmont School District has provided a detailed timeline of the events of Wednesday, May 11:

• 6:34 am: Belmont Police dispatch received a call from Massachusetts 911 stating that they received a bomb threat specific to Belmont High School.
• 6:44 am: Belmont High School administration was notified via cell phone  of the threat as they were enroute to the school building.
• 6:45 am: Belmont Police, in collaboration with school officials, proactively pulled the fire alarm to empty the school of any staff and students who arrived early in the building.
• 6:56 am: Belmont Police requested permission to bring the Explosive Ordinance Dogs (EOD) from surrounding municipalities to sweep the building.
• 7:14 am: BHS administration was provided access to the internet to communicate to Belmont High School students, staff, and families of the situation and the school closure decision for today.
• 7:23 am: District administration sent out the first communication to BHS families, students, and staff.
• 7:36 am: EOD teams arrived at BHS to sweep school.
• 7:53 am: District administration sent out an automated call to our Belmont High School staff and families.
• 8:24 am: District administration sent out an email communication to our PreK-12 community.
• 8:40 am: BHS administration sent out a second communication to families, students and staff with an update.
• 9:42 am: School administration was informed that the sweep of the building was complete and school was safe for activities this afternoon and safe to open for a regular school day tomorrow, Thursday, May 12.

Belmont Superintendent Phelan wrote in email to the school community just before noon:

“I want to thank the Belmont Police Department and Belmont High School administration for their vigilance, support, leadership and commitment to the safety of our school community. In addition, my appreciation goes out to our neighboring police departments for their support in sweeping the building.”

“The High School administration will provide an update on the schedules for today’s afterschool activities and the rescheduling of Advanced Placement exams impacted by today’s school closure.”

“My deepest gratitude to all of our staff who supported our students in all schools today as we worked through this morning’s incident. Staff will be made available to talk with students for the remainder of the week, should there be any questions or continued concerns.”