Atlanta, Georgia: Three Elementary Schools Evacuated After Threats, One Cleared

Updated 02:57 UTC, Nov. 10, 2026: Atlanta Public Schools has given the all clear at every school affected by Monday's phoned bomb threats. Morningside and Springdale Park elementary schools were cleared after searches by Atlanta Public Schools police and public safety partners, and students and staff were allowed back inside by early afternoon, according to district information carried by WSB-TV, 11Alive and Focal News. Each of the three evacuated schools had received a phone call claiming a bomb was on site. Virginia-Highland Elementary School, which was placed on an exterior lockdown as a precaution and was not evacuated, was also clear. The district said all students and staff remained safe and no injuries were reported. Its investigation into the calls is ongoing, and officials still have not said who placed the calls or whether the threats were connected.

Atlanta Public Schools evacuated three elementary schools on Monday morning after threats were received against the campuses, the district said. The schools were Morningside Elementary on Rock Springs Road, E. Rivers Elementary on Peachtree Battle Avenue and Springdale Park Elementary on Briarcliff Road.

Atlanta Public Schools police and other public safety partners investigated the threats and searched each building, the district said. WSB-TV listed the evacuations as its top happening now item at 10:31 a.m. Eastern on Monday, November 9, and FOX 5 Atlanta reported the same three schools from the district statement. 11Alive also reported the evacuations in its Monday live coverage.

One school back in class

E. Rivers Elementary was later cleared after searches by Atlanta Public Schools police and the Atlanta Police Department, the district said. Students and staff at E. Rivers returned to the building and went back to class.

Searches were still continuing at Morningside and Springdale Park at the time of the district update reported by FOX 5 Atlanta. Students and staff from those two schools had not yet been cleared to return to their buildings in that update.

The district said all students and staff remained safe during the evacuations and the searches. Atlanta Public Schools said it would share more information as it became available.

What officials have not said

Officials had not publicly described the exact wording of the threats, how the threats were received, or whether the threats at the three schools were connected. No suspect was named in the district update, and no arrest was announced.

The three schools are established neighborhood elementary schools in the Atlanta Public Schools system. Morningside, the oldest of the three names in the reports, opened in 1929 and sits in the Midtown Cluster, serving the Morningside, Lenox Park and Piedmont Heights neighborhoods, according to the school page maintained by Atlanta Public Schools. The school returned to its home location for the 2023 to 2024 school year after a renovation, refresh and addition.

For parents, the practical facts on Monday were narrow and clear. Three schools were emptied as a precaution while police searched the buildings. One school, E. Rivers, was checked, cleared and reopened to its own students during the school day. Two schools were still being searched in the latest district update carried by local stations, with every student and staff member reported safe.

Police work at school campuses moves in a set order in cases like this. Officers search the building first, then the district decides whether students return, wait at a separate location, or go home early. Atlanta Public Schools gave the first of those answers for E. Rivers on Monday. The answer for Morningside and Springdale Park was still pending when local stations last updated their reports.