Several private schools in Kansas receive threats just ahead of Christmas break

Several private schools across Kansas have had threats made against them, causing some to be evacuated, officials said Friday morning.

The threats to schools include bomb threats to Catholic schools in several cities across Johnson County, bombs threats to Christian schools in Hutchinson and outside of Newton and then threats also made to private schools in the Topeka area.

Central Christian School, a K-12 in Hutchinson, said that the school was evacuated and police found no evidence of a threat when they swept the campus.

“The Police Department has shared with our administrative team that similar automated threats have been made to other schools across the country in recent days, including from the same phone number that contacted us,” the school said on social media around 9 a.m. “This information indicates that this was not a specific or targeted threat toward our school.”

Berean Academy, a small, Christian K-12 school in a rural area east of Newton, was evacuated Friday morning because of a bomb threat to the school, Elbing Mayor Clint Clark said, adding there was a “strong presence” of law enforcement, including from the Butler County Sheriff’s Office, at the school because of the threat.

Berean Academy has over 300 students.

Police also searched St. Agnes Catholic School in Roeland Park but found that the “bomb threat was an unfortunate hoax,” the city said on social media. The school was evacuated because of the threat, according to the Kansas City Star.

Several Topeka area private schools also received a threat, the city of Topeka said Friday morning in a news release.

“Around 9:00 P.M, schools across the region received identical messages to report a threat, the release says. “This call came to several area private schools. Topeka Police is working jointly with the FBI and are investigating these calls. At this time, we have deemed that there is no credible threat to the public. The impacted local schools have notified families.”

Heights High School also had extra police there on Thursday after a social media post circulated earlier in the week that read, “I’m shooting up Heights December 18th, 2025.”

The threats come as many students prepare for exams ahead of the Christmas break, which starts after Friday for many schools.

This story was originally published December 19, 2025 at 10:42 AM.