Students were dismissed early from Evanston Township High School this afternoon after school officials received a report of a bomb threat to the building.
A squad car parked at Church and Dodge, across from the school, as students head home.
The students got an early start to their weekend beginning at about 1:30 p.m., as police and fire units swarmed around the school building.
A message on the school website said the threat was written on toilet paper in a restroom.
School officials indicate they had doubts about the veracity of the threat, but on the advice of police decided to evacuate the school so police could conduct a thorough search.
The message says all athletic activities for the afternoon and evening have been canceled and that school will resume at the regular time Monday.
Other than a minor traffic accident with no injuries at the intersection of Church Street and Dodge Avenue, there were no immediate reports of any difficulties as a result of the early dismissal.
There was no immediate word from police on whether they found anything that would substantiate the bomb threat report.
District 65 officials said their schools would dismiss students at the normal time this afternoon.
While units were responding to the high school, an ambulance run and a garage fire on different parts of Central Street forced authorities to call in mutual aid fire units from Skokie and Wilmette to handle the extra calls.
By about 2:30 p.m. the police presence at the school was starting to be scaled back. Police declared the situation “all clear” shortly after 4 p.m.