INSIDE

Student arrested for threatening note

By Tara Nelson

The city of Blaine made headlines across the nation and worldwide this week as a 15-year-old Blaine high school student was arrested Wednesday, October 26 on suspicion of distributing a note threatening to kill 12 other students and Dan Newell, the school principal.

On October 20, high school officials were given a note by a parent, which their student had brought home after finding it on the floor at school. After receiving the note, school officials notified Blaine police department and officers patrolled the school with security dogs.

Blaine police chief Mike Haslip said when school officials notified the police department, they met with the high school administrators, reviewed the note, and began interviewing the students named and working with the school to get the students’ parents notified.

He said the note was later sent to Washington State Patrol’s forensic crime lab in Seattle where it was examined for trace evidence, as well as handwriting. Crime lab scientists confirmed a match between a suspect’s handwriting and the writing on the note but officers continue to investigate the incident.

“It appears that one or two other students may have known who authored the note and may have helped with the crime,” Haslip said.
The juvenile has been booked into Whatcom County juvenile detention on multiple charges related to the threats. Asked if the suspect was one of the students named on the list, Haslip said he would not disclose that information.

Blaine school district superintendent Dr. Mary Lynne Derrington said immediately after school officials found the note, they attempted to notify all of the students’ parents who were mentioned and advised them not to let their children attend school the next day. Parents who contacted the school and had children not listed in the note were advised to make a personal decision to let their children attend classes that day.

At a Blaine school board meeting Monday, October 24, five parents, including Veronica Muir, mother of two second-grade students in Blaine, said they would have appreciated administrators notifying them about the situation even if their children were not named on the list.

“I appreciate the precautions the primary school did take,” Muir said. “However, I do feel that more could have been done to alert parents to what was happening. I think parents have the right to know when police are combing the campus, ammunition-sniffing dogs are brought on to campus and lockdown conditions are being implemented.”

Derrington said, however, because the note targeted a specific day and specific students, immediate action had to be taken to notify those particular students.

“The first priority was to notify those students and their families who were in the most potential harm’s way,” she said. “Timing did not permit a letter to be sent home on Thursday.”

Blaine police chief Mike Haslip agreed.

“Every time we have an incident like this we learn something different that we could do better next time,” he said. “But our primary and immediate focus was finding and identifying those students that were named. Unfortunately, the end of the day came before we could notify all parents.”

Dave Chapman, a 1957 graduate of Blaine high school and father of two children asked the board if a phone tree, an automated calling system or some other warning system could be implemented in the future.

“When it comes to the safety of our children, there is no such thing as the end of the day,” he said. “In today’s vast mode of communication, how many cell phones are on campus, divide that by how many parents in this district? How long would it take?”

Derrington said while the board does not write the district’s critical incident plans, they will review those plans with law enforcement agencies this fall. At that point, she said they might discuss the possibility of an automated dialing service or a website where people can check for updates.

“Some of those ideas might be excellent,” she said. “Communication is extremely important and how we can always communicate better is something we’re always interested in. All of those suggestions will be considered.”

Derrington said, however, some situations need to be dealt with on a low-key basis, in which case, notifying all parents would not be an option.

In the meantime, Haslip, a former graduate of Blaine high school, said he feels confident about the school’s safety.

“If my kids were going to school there right now, I would have no hesitation in letting them go there tomorrow,” he said. “I am confident they would be as safe there tomorrow as any other day of the year.”

The meeting is planned for later this fall, Derrington said.