'Suspicious' Packages at Roosevelt a False Alarm

Fortunately reported suspicious packages found outside Theodore Roosevelt High School this morning turned out to be a false alarm.

Jim Soyars, director of business services for Kent City Schools, said this morning a student arriving early to the high school told school staff about several packages wrapped as Christmas gifts left outside the main entrance near the cafeteria.

"They were sitting all wrapped up right in front of a trash can," Soyars said. "Obviously that was very suspicious."

High school administrators couldn't account for the packages, so they called Kent Police to make sure the packages weren't some kind of threat.

K9 units responded and students, who were arriving for the start of school at about 7 a.m., were directed away from the atrium entrance.

Ultimately, school officials learned that the packages were used as props in a holiday play by students at Longcoy Elementary School and they were dropped off at the high school after hours Monday.

Soyars said despite the emergency response the false alarm did little to interrupt the start of the school day.

"We did a good job keeping everybody away while emergency personnel were sorting it out," he said. “We were still out there with it all blocked off and dealing with the police until after 7:30 a.m."