Students gathered in the Highlands Middle School gym this morning as Fort Thomas Police searched for a bomb, which was called in this morning at 7 AM.

The alert on the Fort Thomas Independent School website was live at approximately 8:30 AM. 

A bomb threat has been called into Highlands High School. Police are on scene now sweeping the school for evidence.

The students have been moved to the Highlands Middle School gym until the sweep has been completed.

This is the first bomb threat made at the school since 1998.

This story will be updated.

UPDATE: 8:02 AM. 2 additional canine units called previously may not be needed in search. They will search the school with one police dog.

UPDATE: 8:12 AM. The students have been told the search is almost completed and that they can go back to class in the next 15 minutes.

UPDATE: 8:29 AM: Anonymous tip from a student: It’s been communicated to the students that the building is safe and they’ll be resuming classes within the next 10 minutes.

UPDATE 8:31 AM: This email was sent to FTM from FTIS: The following message has been sent out to our parents via Twitter, Facebook, Channel 20, email and phone call:

At 7am this morning, Highlands High School received a voice message reporting a bomb threat at the high school. The building was immediately cleared and students were moved to Highlands Middle School.  The police arrived on site within minutes and are conducting a thorough search of the building, which included the K-9 unit.  We anticipate the police will give us an all clear message to re-enter the building by 8:30am.  At that time, all classes will resume their schedule as normal.

UPDATE 9:05 AM: Reports from students that classes are being resumed. 

UPDATE 9:07 AM: From a student at HHS: Gym has been evacuated and classes are resuming. Students are not able to go to the bathrooms or to their locker.

UPDATE 9:08 AM: Many parents are taking to social media to ask why they were not notified earlier. This type of conversation is commonplace:

Twitter.