This story was updated at 11:46 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2026 to address the current state of the school closure.
On Thursday, Jan. 29, Redwood High School received an anonymous report of a possible bomb or shooting threat, according to school and district officials. Administration is currently working closely with the Central Marin Police Department to investigate the threat and were advised to take immediate action in keeping everyone safe. At approximately 8:19 a.m., students, staff and faculty were promptly evacuated from campus, and all school activities were cancelled for the remainder of the day. Police in both marked and unmarked vehicles rapidly responded to the threat and closed off campus roughly 10 minutes before the first bell of the school day rang at 8:30 a.m.
Principal Barnaby Payne notified parents and guardians of the emergency closure in a message sent through ParentSquare at 8:36 a.m. According to Payne, students and staff evacuated “in a quick and orderly fashion.” In his message, Payne also acknowledged that incidents like this can cause fear and uncertainty among students and families. He encouraged parents to speak with their students and reach out if additional support is needed.
For eighth-grade students who were looking forward to visiting the school later this afternoon, the open house event has been postponed and further updates will be posted. All athletics that were scheduled to take place on campus have also been cancelled or are in the process of being moved to a later date.
Immediately following the evacuation, students described a wide range of emotions, including confusion, fear and disbelief as they processed the situation. Freshman Atlas Zhang said she first learned about the threat after arriving at school and seeing students quickly leaving school grounds.
The evacuation felt extremely sudden and disorienting for many students as information spread quickly by word of mouth, online social media posts and notices from administration. Freshman Gabi Estacio said she first heard about the threat while in the Leadership class before an announcement was made over the loudspeakers.
“Everyone was yelling and confused, and then there was an announcement over the loudspeaker telling us to evacuate,” Estacio said. “It made me scared because it is a bomb threat, but I honestly was excited because we don’t have school.”
Due to the limited information given at this time, freshman Adam Saouaf was one of many students caught off-guard by the evacuation.
“[The evacuation] definitely came as a big surprise, but this doesn’t happen often as it was the first time we had to leave school this year,” Saouaf said. “I know [the administration] made an announcement over the intercom, but it was hard to hear so I found out from people around me.”
Sophomore Maziar Massoumi expressed that he was urgently told to leave by the local police.
“I heard about [the evacuation] because the police were telling everyone to walk the other way from school,” Massoumi said. “I didn’t feel like I was in immediate danger because we’ve gotten [a threat] before, and nothing actually occured.”
Freshman Alyssa Erlin was just as nervous as other students who hadn’t been in this situation before; unlike sophomores, juniors and seniors.
“[The situation was] very surreal, and [I was] nervous to think that there could be a bomb in our school. It’s scary to think we could have been [in school] when something dangerous was happening,” Erlin said.
This isn’t the first time a bomb threat has led to a school closure at Redwood. On Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, students throughout the Tamalpais Union High School District were told to evacuate campus under the same circumstances as now. Tamalpais High School and Archie Williams High School had their own bomb threats earlier in the 2025-26 school year, during the instructional minutes of the school day.
Some students, however, remained calm due to the similar incident that occurred last year. Junior Eamon Kelly did not believe the threat would escalate to anything, but is still following these serious precautions that are necessary in keeping everyone safe.
“We’ve had one of these before last year and it wasn’t anything. It’s important to take these situations seriously, but as far as I’m concerned, I don’t think anything is going to happen; nobody’s gotten hurt. Besides, it’s a free day off. A free day is a free day and I’m not complaining,” Kelly said.
An email was sent by Payne at 11:32 a.m. informing the school community that “the school is safe and everyone is well. I am also updating you on my communication from this morning in which I informed you we had cancelled school, out of an abundance of caution, after receiving a phone-in anonymous threat.” The Redwood campus will remain closed for the remainder of the day, and all after-school activities, both home and away contests and practices of athletics, have been cancelled for the day. School will resume on Friday, Jan. 30.
