Monticello, NY - Bear Roaming The Area

Monticello - There was a bear in the woods next to the Monticello High School today, and the kids seemed to find this a nice distraction. "I wanna see the bear," one student yelled out a second-floor classroom window.

Passers-by spotted the bear smallish, maybe 100 pounds, said police Chief Doug Solomon in the woods that occupy a few lush acres between the high school/middle school parking lots, Wood Avenue and the Rutherford Elementary School. A few minutes before dismissal, interim high school Principal George Vanderzell announced the bear's presence over the school public-address system. "The bear has not been apprehended at this time," he said, and urged kids to stay away from the woods as they walked home.

Police and school staff kept the kids on the sidewalk as they hiked down the access road toward Wood Avenue. School employee Bill Nolan had to interrupt a couple of kids' cell phone calls to warn them. "When you get the report, you've got to let people know, and take proper precautions," Vanderzell said as he watched the buses pull away. "We alerted the students, and we had some extra people out."