Lyle School students and teachers were sent home around noon Friday after a student reported that a bomb threat was written on a bathroom wall, said Lyle School Principal Royce Helmbrecht.

No bomb was found.

The threat, written in a girl's bathroom at the school, said a bomb would go off in the school at 1:15 p.m. on Jan. 31, Helmbrecht said.

School officials contacted the Mower County Sheriff's Office, which requested help from Olmsted County. Olmsted County deputies brought dogs trained to detect bombs. By 3 p.m., a bomb was not found and school officials decided to hold practices and games as scheduled, Helmbrecht said.

No suspects were reported and Helmbrecht said an investigation into the incident will continue Monday.

The message has been cleaned off the bathroom wall, he said. Helmbrecht said he did not know how long the message was on the wall, but it was not reported until Friday.

Helmbrecht said the evacuation process went smoothly, noting it was a joint-effort of the school and law enforcement agencies in Mower and Olmsted counties.

Helmbrecht said he did not know if Lyle had its own evacuation policy for bomb threats, but he said he drew on previous experience during Friday's threat.

"I've been through this situation before, so I knew exactly what to do," Helmbrecht said.

Cari Quam can be reached at 434-2235 or by e-mail at :mailto:cari.quam@austindailyherald.com