RUMFORD, Maine — School has been canceled for Tuesday in RSU 10 following threats made during a school board meeting, officials say.
Superintendent Deb Alden announced the cancellation in a letter Monday night after someone allegedly made threats over Zoom during the meeting.
"Out of an abundance of caution, we will have law enforcement present when we return to school on Wednesday," Alden wrote. "As a district, we apologize to those hearing this language at a public meeting. It is not anything we condone."
A source with direct knowledge of the meeting told NEWS CENTER Maine the person used profanities and then threatened to "shoot up the school" on Tuesday morning.
The incident abruptly canceled the meeting and suspended a boys' basketball game at Mountain Valley High School against Spruce Mountain.
Adam Robinson, a reporter for Lewiston Sun Journal, tweeted about the suspension around 7:45 p.m.
"They suspended the game and cleared the school," Robinson said in a subsequent tweet.
Alden said police were able to identify the IP address of the individual in the meeting and believe there may have been a "technology issue" that allowed users to "inadvertently" attend.
RSU 10 administration issued the following statement on Wednesday:
"Many of you may have heard that there was a threat made against our school at the school board meeting on Monday night. It is true that a threat was made. It is also true that racial slurs and hate speech were used. We never condone the use of that type of language and work hard every day to be an anti-racist and anti-bias district. RSU #10 has, and always will be, entirely devoted to protecting all of our kids."