Smithville Elementary School was the site of a community tribute Tuesday for bus drivers and staff who helped get students to safety during a bomb threat Friday.
Grateful parents, children, and community leaders greeted bus drivers, faculty and staff as they arrived at school Tuesday morning and many held signs bearing messages such as “Thank You”, “You’re My Heroes”, and “We Love Our Bus Drivers”.
The school also hosted a “Heroes Luncheon” for the bus drivers and school staff later in the day.
“Today we are celebrating the heroes at Smithville Elementary School and the bus drivers. There are parents who wanted to do a special thank you for our faculty and staff and the bus drivers for the fantastic job they did on Friday getting all the students out and to Northside. The community really came together. The ambulance workers, the firemen, the police. Everybody pitched in. It was just amazing. When you can unload a building of 570 students and almost 100 faculty and staff members in ten minutes time that’s an amazing feat. We say a big thank you to everyone for all that they did,” said Julie Vincent, Principal at Smithville Elementary School.
“This morning we had several parents and students here that had big signs that said “Thank You” and “We Appreciate You” for the bus drivers and the faculty and staff to see as they came in. I’ve had several of them really emotional and in tears for just how much that meant to them to see the parents show support for what they did and how well they took care of their children. We’re very blessed to have all the faculty and staff and bus drivers that we have. It was amazing,” added Vincent.
Several members of the Board of Education and Central Office Staff also attended to show their support.
A bomb threat Friday morning at Smithville Elementary forced administrators to bus the children to Northside Elementary School for the rest of the day. A search of the building on Friday and again with a dog on Saturday turned up nothing suspicious.