Bullet found at local school leads to lockdown; system glitch impacts parent notification

PLEASANT HILL — A Miami County school went into lockdown this week after somebody found a bullet.

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A live .22 caliber round was found on the ground at Newton Local Schools’s fieldhouse around lunchtime on Thursday and that caused the school’s resource officer to trigger the lockdown.

“Put the kids on lockdown until we could determine what was going on with this round,” Ryan Karn, Newton’s school resource officer, said.

As reported on News Center 7 at 5:00, Superintendent Danielle Davis said she tried to notify the community by using One Call, but a glitch in their phone system forced her to use Final Forms, an email system that can inform all students and parents at the same time.

Brooke Boyer, a parent in the district, said it can make her nervous with “stuff happening in schools all the time.”

“It makes you nervous, but I also know that they’re in really good hands,” Boyer said.

A large search of the entire school, the grounds, and the fieldhouse where the bullet was discovered didn’t uncover anything else and the lockdown was lifted.

A review of the district’s surveillance system showed a man working out in the community-shared facility had that bullet fall out of his pants by accident. That man is not expected to face any charges.

“Him and his children went target shooting the day before and just didn’t realize it was in his pocket,” Karn said.

Davis said any threat is going to be handled the same way every time.

“We’re going to take it seriously 100 percent of the time, whether or not we think it is serious,” Davis said.

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