SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 2018
Threat
from 1A
The fact that students came for-
ward to report it and we were
able to investigate it, and noth-
ing happened, to me that means
it worked. And I’m so thankful
that students spoke up.”
Because the threat was
deemed not credible, the dis-
trict did not decide to make the
incident public.
Eugene television station
KEZI ran a story on Monday,
April 30, questioning the dis-
trict’s decision in not releasing
the information when it
occurred.
While the incident was a first
for the Mapleton district, the
act of students threatening vio-
lence in schools are surprising-
ly commonplace.
The Educator’s School
Safety Network found that just
Saturday,May 5th
starting at 3pm
$
20
Fajitas
for Tw
o
two weeks after the Parkland,
Fla., school shooting, 638
threats were made against
schools, according to a March
12 USA Today report. The 638
number is low, considering the
figures were gathered solely
from media coverage of such
incidences.
“I don’t know the details of
the Mapleton incident, but in
general I can tell you there are
different types of threats that
happen on a regular basis,”
Florence Police Commander
John Pitcher said. “They hap-
pen all the time.”
There are multiple reasons
why a school decides to notify
parents of a possible threat, and
why they don’t.
“It’s going to depend on each
circumstance,” Pitcher said.
“It’s hard to put out a blanket
policy that I think we should
do. I do think there’s some
threats you need to put out to
people.”
One instance of a threat that
should be made public occurred
in April in the North Bend
School District. In that
instance, a student had written
on a bathroom stall that a
school shooting would occur,
according to Coos Bay newspa-
per The World, in an April 25
article. In that case, the public
was notified, and the school
was shut down because the
school did not know who made
the threat, and when it would
occur.
“If we had something like
that, where we don’t know
when it will occur, and we
haven’t pinned down who has
made the threat, we would
close down for the day,”
Siuslaw
School
District
Superintendent
Andy
Grzeskowiak said. “In my
mind, they made the right call.”
But the North Bend incident
was difficult because of how
the threat was made and when
it was found. The majority of
threats reported to officials are
verbal, and, in most cases, non-
credible.
“We’ve had kids who have
made those angry utterances,”
Grzeskowiak said. “They’ll say
something dumb in the
moment, it’s overheard by
somebody else, and other peo-
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ple talk about it later in the day.
By the time it’s made the
rounds and comes back to us,
and you talk to the kid, what
they actually said was not what
was reported. That wouldn’t be
something we would notify the
general school population
about.”
Even if a threat is more spe-
cific, such as a student specifi-
cally saying they will commit a
shooting, it still may not be
reported to the public.
“If the kid has said that, we
call the police,” Grzeskowiak
said. “If they find there were no
weapons at the home and no
ability to carry out an attack,
and the student was run through
a psychological screening that
showed no issues, then it would
be disciplinary.”
Many of these cases involve
students who are just mad and
wanted to get attention.
“But they scared people,”
Grzeskowiak said. “For creat-
ing that fear for people that are
around them, there would be
discipline for that.”
These sorts of threats are not
uncommon from students.
“I think this is something
that kids of have done for
years,” Pitcher said. “Kids
threaten each other all the time.
I’m not condoning it, but it’s
immaturity. For years, schools
7 A
have been put in the position
where they’re trying to deter-
mine whether there’s some-
thing behind a threat or not.
Now it’s garnered a lot more
attention because of instances
like Parkland. And schools
have to approach them a little
differently, with more caution.”
Even if there is a confirmed
threat with a student that has
the motivation to carry out an
attack, and the means to do it,
the public still may not be noti-
fied.
In an article in the Siuslaw
News last month covering
firearms in America, Pitcher
talked of a student who had
planned an actual attack.
“When I was a sergeant here,
a freshman told the principal
about a kid who was making
some comments that really had
him concerned,” Pitcher said.
“The principal came to me with
the young boy. We talked.
There was enough to be con-
cerned about. We went out,
talked to the young man’s fam-
ily. There were definitely con-
cerns. He had a gun hidden that
he had gotten from his dad, and
the dad didn’t realize he had
gotten it out of his safe.
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