Fourth and fifth graders head home after school today at Olympic Elementary School in Chehalis.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Just three days after a threatening anonymous phone call to a Chehalis school, it happened again.
Twice yesterday.
Chehalis police were contacted shortly after 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon because a call came in at the high school which said only that the caller had automatic weapons, and another was made to Olympic Elementary School which claimed an attacker was in a second grade classroom.
Olympic doesn’t have second graders, only fourth and fifth graders.
Still, this afternoon, a police officer parked outside the entrance to the elementary school on the Southwest Salsbury Avenue at dismissal time.
Children boarded their busses as parents parked waiting at the curb to pick up others.
Tylar Sickel said he and his wife kept their two grade schoolers home on Tuesday, because it was an option they were given. There wasn’t a lot of information to judge the situation, he said.
But last night after learning it happened again, and reading the superintendent’s message, the couple was not too worried, he said.
“We figured if it was that big of a concern, the school district would have made it apparent the kids should stay home,” Sickel said.
When it occurred on Monday at Olympic, it was the end of the school day. Police came and searched the building found nothing suspicious. The school district used their automated system to inform parents that afternoon of what happened.
Chehalis police described it as a vague threat, with something about an attack, and not specific as to the date, time and location.
Police increased their presence at the schools in the Chehalis District this week, as well as at St. Joseph Catholic School.
Chehalis School District Superintendent Ed Rothlin today described the calls as using technology to disguise the voice and also hiding the incoming phone number.
Chehalis Deputy Chief Randy Kaut said there’s some kind of electronics involved and indications the call is probably a recorded message, not a real person. When the person who answers the phone speaks, it seems to activate the message, and if they speak again, the same message is repeated, he said.
Rothlin issued a lengthy memo yesterday for students, parents and staff that states Chehalis doesn’t seem to be alone in this. Two schools in Thurston County and two in Spokane have received similar recorded anonymous calls this week, according to Rothlin.
The superintendent said they take the calls seriously, but his memo also went on to offer parents a resource for evaluating for themselves what to do, and it ends with his hope they continue to send their children to school.
Attendance was about 60 percent of normal today, according to Rothlin.
Rothlin this morning was on the phone with school officials in Spokane. Their police department is involved as well, he said.
Kaut said at mid-day today, he didn’t know if Chehalis’s calls were related to the others. Detectives are still investigating.
“We’re following up on some leads locally,” Kaut said.
Rothlin described today the changing feelings through the week about the disruption.
“The first call we got, earlier this week, it was very scary, we just don’t get those,” Rothlin said. “Yesterday, well, it still makes us nervous, but we’re really angry, because of the disruption.”
“It’s just not a good thing,” he said.
Chehalis School District students will be out of school all next week for spring break.
•••
For background, read,:
• “Anonymous threat to Chehalis grade school increases police presence” from Tuesday March 31, 2015, here
• Chehalis School District’s memo from yesterday, here
• The report Rothlin referred parents to from the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Education: “Threat Assessment in Schools”, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Let’s hope it is something as “simple” as a custody battle and not some wacko who is actually intent on causing harm to kids. I do not have school age kids anymore but would protect any of them as best I could.
In this day and age you cannot take any threat lightly.
I received an automated call. Actually 2 that we voice activated and different but from the same number. I saved the number under prank. Wonder if it’s the same phone
What may be the most aggravating thing about this is that these are grade-school children whose lives are ultimately being messed with. The grown-ups have been around long enough to be able to more or less roll with it but the kids don’t have that kind of life experience.
Someone is going through a lot of effort to disrupt things and they’re targeting elementary schools. I don’t think it’s a disgruntled former or current employee because they’d know what age group attends Olympic. Parents and guardians need to pay attention because this could be about a custody battle or worse.