Everett High Bomb Threat Causing “Civic Harm”

“It steals police time and resources, it takes away learning time, teaching time and brings an unsettling atmosphere to our students…its causing civic harm.” That was a quote from Mary Waggoner at Everett Schools following a bomb threat today at Everett High School. Sally Lancaster, principal at Everett High sent out this phone message to parents after the incident this morning…

Dear Everett High School families

This is Principal Sally Lancaster asking you for a favor. I ask this in the interest of student safety and student learning.

Today, at the END of third period, we discovered a note in one of the girls’ bathrooms. The note said a bomb had been set in the math building to go off DURING third period.

In an abundance of caution, we evacuated the math building. Police searched the building, found no evidence of danger, and students returned to class.

I am asking you and your students to help identify who placed the phony threat in our school. If it was intended as a joke, it is not funny. It steals learning time. Such threats create unnecessary concern.

Please encourage your students to let an adult know of any conversations or activities that threaten their own safety, the safety of others or that could disrupt school time.

Our safety tip line number is 425-385-5050. That number again is 425-385-5050.

That message was later followed by this email from Principal Lancaster…

You may have already received the phone message I sent. In that message I asked you and your students to help identify someone who made a phony threat against the school. This threat caused unnecessary concern among students and staff, and it stole valuable learning time from our school day.

Here is what happened:

Today, at the END of third period, we discovered a note in one of the girls’ bathrooms.
The note said a bomb had been set in the math building to go off DURING third period.

Here is what we did:

In an abundance of caution, even though the time mentioned in the note was past, we evacuated the math building.
Police searched the building, found no evidence of danger, and students returned to class.

Here is what I ask of you

Please help identify who placed the phony threat in our school. If it was intended as a joke, it is not funny. It steals learning time from all students. It creates concerns. The time the police spend searching our school costs taxpayers money, and it pulls those officers away from other public safety work.

Please encourage your students to let an adult know of any conversations or activities that threaten their own safety, the safety of others or that could disrupt the time needed to learn at school. Be aware of what kids are talking about and saying on social media.

Our safety tip line number is 425-385-5050. No one will know who called that number. You can also call our office at 425-385-4400 or the police at 911.

Working together, we can keep our school a safe place for students, staff and community to learn, work and grow together.

Thank you for your help and your interest in our Everett High School students.

Sally

Editor’s Note: In the past, its been the policy at MyEverettNews.com to generally not report on bomb threats as the disruption and publicity seem to reward those who post the threat. However in this new age of instant information there seems to be a bigger issue with preventing mis-information (thanks to nearly everyone having a phone and a social media account of one form or another), that seems to follow these incidents. I spoke with Mary Waggoner at Everett Schools and after talking with her, wanted to post the details of this incident and the school’s response to parents. We’ll continue to monitor each story independently and we welcome your comments on our coverage. L. Dart, Publisher/Editor.