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‘Potential incident’ unrelated to earlier rumor led to closure decision.

EXETER – Wyoming Area Secondary Center will be closed on Monday after the school district’s superintendent said he’s been made aware of a “potential incident” at the high school.
Raymond Bernardi wouldn’t elaborate about his decision to close the secondary center and declined to answer any questions about the nature of the potential incident or how it was learned.
He did say the most recent development is unrelated to Friday’s incident when nearly 80 percent of the student body left school early reacting to rumors that a student had possession of a gun.
In a prepared statement, Bernardi said: “We’ve been made aware of a potential incident at the secondary center which mentions a specific date. This is totally separate and unrelated to Friday’s occurrence. Consequently, the secondary center will be closed on Monday, May 14. The makeup day will be June 12. A general assembly will be held for the entire student body when school resumes on Tuesday, May 15.”
Exeter Police Chief John McNeil couldn’t be reached for comment on Saturday.
Several school board members also couldn’t be reached for comment.
Board member Mary Lou Pisano said she wasn’t aware that the secondary center, which educates students in seventh through the 12th grades, will be closed on Monday until told by a reporter.
On Thursday, a rumor began circulating that an 11th-grade student, who had been absent from school since May 3, was in possession of a gun.
Security was heightened on Thursday, but the rumor got out of control on Friday, sparking parents to remove their children from the school.
Bernardi told The Times Leader on Friday that the rumors began when a man from Pittston reported a gun was missing from his home. That man’s nephew, the 11th-grade student at the secondary center, had been absent from school and missing from home.
The youth was located Friday afternoon and taken to the Pittston Police Department.
The student who caused the scare had not made any threats toward the school, Bernardi said.
Bernardi said all other schools in the district – John F. Kennedy, Montgomery Avenue, Sarah J. Dymond and Tenth Street elementary schools – will be open on Monday.