Extra Police on Duty When Plymouth-Canton High Schools Resume Tuesday

Students will see more police on the three-school Plymouth-Canton Educational Park Tuesday, as well as more adults, said district spokesman Frank Ruggirello Jr.

continue investigating a which led to the shutdown Monday of P-CEP — which includes , and high schools and about 6,200 students.

The school district is offering a $1,000 reward to "anyone who gives the police information that leads to the arrest of those responsible," according to the statement.

Under normal conditions, two police officers are typically assigned to the the Park, or P-CEP, said Canton Police Lt. Mark Schultz.

"We'll have a few extra patrols tomorrow," he said. "We'll be there when it first starts and have some officers in the parking lot throughout the day, especially during class change times."

Despite a number of rumors about a bomb threat, he said, "There was no bomb threat."

The note, found in Salem High School by a teacher, contained a threat of but did not name anyone specifically, Schultz said.

He said as part of the investigation, the note is being analyzed. Portions of the text or a summary of it may be made public, he said, "to help teachers or students identify who wrote it."

Martin Cowger, 14, a ninth-grader at Canton High School, said he and fellow students learned about the partial lockdown Monday toward the end of first hour.

"We had to wait in the classroom," he said.

Cowger said he and other students weren't told why there was a lockdown or what the situation was.

The district's policy is to ensure student safety first, working with police and communicating with students, teachers, parents and the media in that order, according to school officials.

"District and police officials will not be satisfied until the person or persons responsible for the threatening note is brought to justice," the statement issued jointly by the district and police said.

Ruggirello said details of the note's contents would not be disclosed by the district during the investigation. He said the note was found between 7:15 and 7:30 a.m. and, with police, school officials began a partial lockdown process by 8 a.m., having all students remain in their first-hour classrooms, followed by a controlled dismissal. Some students were bused to Pioneer Middle School to get rides home from parents; others were allowed to drive their own cars home and a third group went by bus to their normal bus stops.

"The important thing is that when a situation like this happens, the police are in charge of the scene," Ruggirello said. "People will say, 'Why did it take so long to dismiss the students? It was because we didn't dismiss in our normal process. It's a much different procedure than we do normally. We were ensuring the safety of our students. The bottom line is it was a controlled dismissal, the police were involved in every facet of the dismissal for the safety of the students."

District officials also expressed thanks to students, staff and parents for cooperating during the incident. Ruggirello said the students' behavior was exceptional.

"We have plans in place. We practiced this and the way the kids behaved was outstanding," he said. "They behaved and they did what they had to do."

He said Monday's closure does not affect the amount of state aid the district gets, because the aid is based on the number of hours school is in session through the year. "You always bank on five or six days where you don't have school," he said. "We just started the school year. We have plenty of time."

Anyone with information on Monday's incident is asked to call Canton Township's Department of Public Safety at 734-394-5400.