Elementary Students Kept Out Of Harm’s Way Broadway Youngsters, Day-Care Kids, Teachers Wait Out Crisis Together

Lynette Torres was on her way to Broadway Elementary to pick up her 9-year-old daughter Thursday afternoon when she heard the news on the radio.

A man at a house just a block away from her daughter’s school had shot and killed one person and wounded another, then set the house on fire.

When she arrived at the Spokane Valley school, Torres said, “I just ran into the school, and they said everybody should stay put.”

Central Valley School District officials were notified of the shootings at 3:10 p.m. Broadway Elementary, which normally dismisses most students at 3:20 p.m., immediately went into lockdown - meaning students were not allowed to leave unless accompanied by a parent - and children were quickly herded to classrooms at the east end of the building, farthest from the gunman and the burning house.

Kindergarten, first- and second-grade students had been dismissed at 2:40 p.m. About 175 students remained at school.

In addition, six children and two adults were evacuated from a day-care center just two doors away from the burning house and were sent to the school.

The children at the Care-A-Lot Castle day-care center were sitting down to a snack when they heard loud cracks of gunfire.

“We heard the shots,” day-care operator Cindy Wikle said. “I told them to come away from the window.”

Suddenly, the street filled with police cars, Wikle said. Officers jumped out and took cover behind their patrol cars. “When we saw the police crouching down, we locked all the doors.”

Shortly after, the phone rang. It was an officer telling Wikle to leave her house and take the children to Broadway Elementary.

The school’s halls filled with parents, teachers and administrators who discussed the fire and shooting in hushed tones. Children crowded into classrooms and watched movies, played video games and did their homework while waiting to go home.

In one classroom, three girls cried and asked their teacher questions about gunshots. In another, teacher Joel Engstrom’s third-graders were delighted to discover their spelling test had been canceled.

“I was thinking, when are we going to get out of school? How close is the fire?” said Matthew Dirstine, a fifth grader, as he looked up from a math worksheet.

Second grader Jackie Adams admitted she was nervous as she left Broadway with her father, Chuck.

“I thought that the man was shooting people that were in the house. Mrs. Smith didn’t even tell us anything,” Jackie said of her teacher.

Parents arriving to pick up their children were directed to the east end of the school. No one was permitted to leave from the northwest corner, nearest the scene of the shooting and fire. Instead, cars lined the playing fields at the southeast corner and parents rushed through the wet grass in a downpour to find their children.

Many parents stayed with their children for an hour or more before leaving. By 4:45 p.m., most were gone.

Most teachers and administrators said the district’s crisis plan worked wonderfully. Today, counselors will be available at Broadway to discuss any fears or problems children have.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Alison Boggs Staff writer Staff writer Adam Lynn contributed to this report.