Photo by Gage Vota St. Clairsville-Richland City Middle and High School students leave campus following a bomb threat made against the school Friday.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Students at St. Clairsville-Richland City Middle and High School were dismissed Friday afternoon after a bomb threat was made.

A heavy police presence was seen around the school following the threat.

Superintendent Christina Laudermilt said a student found a note in a middle school boys bathroom and quickly reported it.

Police Chief Matt Arbenz said that despite not believing the threat was credible, his department acted immediately to ensure the safety of students and staff.

“We decided to evacuate to be safe. I don’t feel like it’s credible, but to be on the safe side, they evacuated,” Arbenz said. “As soon as the school called we had an officer there within a minute.”

He added that the threat appeared childish and not credible, but said evacuating the school was the best course of action to ensure everyone’s safety.

Students were evacuated to Red Devil Stadium while officers swept the building.

They were later dismissed to the custody of their parents.

Laudermilt said the St. Clairsville Police Department, Belmont County Sheriff’s Office and Wheeling Police Department were on scene to ensure the building was safe before staff returned.

City workers also arrived to block roads near the school and reroute traffic.

“We just really appreciate the work within our community. We appreciate our parents for their cooperation during this time. And I cannot thank our staff enough for all of their work in that immediate response,” Laudermilt said. “The city always comes and helps us with closing the roads down and helping to direct traffic. That’s huge for us with us obviously being right here in town.”

She added that both the school and police department are taking the threat very seriously.

“We take these situations very seriously. We are working with local law enforcement right now and reviewing the footage in order to determine the suspect,” Laudermilt said.