Dozens of Mich. schools closed amid threats, rumors

Associated Press

DETROIT

Dozens of Michigan schools canceled classes for thousands of students to cool off rumored threats of violence and problems related to doomsday scenarios based on the Mayan calendar, officials said Thursday.

Public schools in Genesee and Lapeer counties, neighboring counties north of the Detroit area, started the Christmas break Wednesday night rather than have classes the rest of the week. Meanwhile, police investigated whether students made false claims about guns at the high school in Grand Blanc, said John Potbury, a spokesman for the Genesee County prosecutor.

Last week’s shooting at a Connecticut elementary school “changed all of us. ... Canceling school is the right thing to do,” Genesee County schools said in a statement.

A Lapeer-area superintendent, Matt Wandrie, said rumors of violence had become a major distraction for students and staff and disrupted learning. Additionally, he said in a message to parents, “rumors connected to the Mayan calendar predicted end of the world on Friday have also surfaced.”