CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – A bomb threat reported to Charlottesville High School is now being investigated as a potential hoax, Charlottesville Chief of Police Michael Kochis told Cville Right Now on Friday.

Staff at Charlottesville High School was evacuated Friday around noon following a reported bomb threat against the school. By 12:55 p.m., a preliminary sweep of the school building had found no danger. Police were using bomb-detecting K9s to continue that search.

“We believe it may be a swatting incident,” Kochis said.

Swatting cases involve persons making a false emergency threats designed to elicit a police response.

Friday was designated on Charlottesville City Schools’ calendar for family-teacher conferences, with no students in class.

Teachers, who requested anonymity, told Cville Right Now a student notified school officials that a friend had texted him saying the friend had planted bombs at the school.

That prompted the evacuation of the school, with staff and the few parents and students who were in the building, moving across the street to the athletic facility.

About 50 CHS staff members were huddled near the football field concession stand shortly after the threat Friday afternoon.

About a dozen police vehicles could be seen at the high school, while Charlottesville Fire Department personnel and more police were stationed at the school’s nearby football stadium, where staff was evacuated to.

The Charlottesville Police Department said in a social media post it received a report of the bomb threat toward the school at 11:38 a.m., and that officers were searching the campus and investigating. The department also said to avoid the area.

A police K-9 unit was seen arriving at the high school at 12:34 p.m.