HUGHESVILLE – A bomb threat made earlier this month directed at East Lycoming School District made officials realize the need for change in the system to alert parents of early dismissals.

“It’s designed for anticipated dismissals,” Superintendent Michael Pawlik said at last Tuesday night’s school board meeting.

When parents and guardians see heavy snowfall, they know there is a possibility that an early dismissal can occur.

In the case of the bomb threat emailed to the school principal and various school officials on May 3, some parents were unaware of the early dismissal. The automatic system is programmed to call a home phone number and they were out, or it called a cellphone number the parent did not have nearby.

The update to the system will allow parents to enter up to four phone numbers and three email addresses, Pawlik said.

Next year, the system will be updated further to allow for parents to update the system in case contact information needs to change, and to assign order of preference to phone numbers, based on what will most likely reach them first.

No bomb was ever found and students returned to classes the following day.