Threatening note found at school
A Clark Fork High School teacher on Saturday discovered a note in a student’s locker wishing the teacher and at least one other student were dead, according to the Bonner County Sheriff’s Department.
District School Superintendent Mark Berryhill said the district is investigating what they considered a threat. He said he couldn’t release specifics on the students and teacher involved, but said nobody appeared to be in immediate danger. The district contacted police, which is standard procedure, he said.
Sheriff’s Lt. Doug Harris said a teacher found an open locker at the high school on Saturday, went to close it and discovered a handwritten note inside. Harris said the note wasn’t very specific, but “just wished that this person was dead and a couple other people were dead.”
He said the note wasn’t addressed to any one person.
“It’s more like someone writing their thoughts down,” he said.
Police were immediately called, Harris said.
“We don’t believe that the person that wrote the note was going to follow through on what they wrote down,” Harris said, “but you have to take all the steps to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
The school has about 130 students in grades 8-12, Berryhill said. Just more than a dozen teachers work there.
The superintendent said the district has a new policy in place to deal with student threats. Teachers try to assess the risk of the threat being carried out and a psychological evaluation is conducted, Berryhill said.
A team looks at the information from the different agencies involved, including police, and makes a decision on how to respond.
“We meet as a team and make a determination of what’s the best course for the student, the students and the school,” he said.
“Obviously, safety is a huge concern.”
Harris said copies of the police report have been forwarded to the school district and to the prosecutor’s office for review.
“Both entities are weighing their options of what they’re going to do with the person that made the written threats,” he said.