U-Hi student arrested; school to reopen today
A University High School student was arrested Monday after allegedly leaving threatening messages on another student’s phone over the weekend, prompting district officials to close the school as a precaution.
The student intended the messages as a prank, school officials said in a press release Monday afternoon.
Extra staff will be on hand when school reopens today “to respond to student concerns,” the release said.
One student, U-Hi senior Kelsey Wardsworth, said Monday she was worried about heading back to class because she doesn’t feel as safe as she used to.
The entire episode was “kind of weird,” Wardsworth said. She works as a photographer for the Vox, a student-produced newspaper published by The Spokesman-Review.
The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office spent Monday investigating the threats. “On Saturday we learned of voice-mail messages that were specific threats against specific students,” said Central Valley School District spokeswoman Melanie Rose.
The school’s resource deputy first heard of text messages referring to a threat at 9:30 a.m. Friday, said Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Dave Reagan.
Rumors spread “of potential incidents occurring at the school,” Reagan said, adding that they appeared “to all be a continuation of the first rumor.”
Said Reagan, “with cell phone and texting technology, this kind of rumor is able to spread faster than we can backtrack it.”
Rose said that the first rumor on Friday that a student was going to bring a gun to school was quickly investigated and found to be false. The information reported over the weekend came from a parent who had a district administrator’s phone number.
Rumors swirled among U-Hi students, with one student’s name coming up repeatedly as the alleged source of the threat.
Neither Rose nor Reagan would confirm any specifics about the investigation.
“I’m not at liberty to discuss individual students,” Rose said.
After-school activities and games at the school were canceled. The district was working Monday to reschedule games and find alternative locations for varsity team practices, Rose said.