Explosive devices turn up at school

Note to parents: Discourage children from playing catch with bombs.

Three tennis balls wrapped in duct tape were found at West Valley School District’s Pasadena Park Elementary on Thursday. Spokane sheriff’s officials determined the balls were homemade bombs.

But that determination wasn’t made until after a child handled one of the balls and may have used it to play catch with a classmate, authorities said. And school Principal Robyn Davis transported one of the tennis balls to another school and back again in her car trunk.

When authorities arrived to investigate, one of the explosive devices was in a garbage can inside the school, said Spokane County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Dave Reagan.

Coincidentally, officials said, Davis had been scheduled to receive training that would have helped with handling the situation.

The correct response would have been to leave the out-of-the-ordinary item where it was and call police, Reagan said, adding that a child could have been hurt. On Thursday the school sent a letter to Pasadena Park parents, said Sue Shields, district spokeswoman.

The letter stated that three small “potentially” explosive devices were found and described them as tennis balls wrapped in duct tape. One was in a trash container and two were found on the playground, Shields said. The letter went on to state that sheriff’s deputies responded to the school Thursday afternoon and “rendered them safe.”

But the course of events wasn’t as orderly as the letter implies.

The first tennis ball was found on the playground by a child who handed it to a Pasadena Park Elementary staff member.

The staffer took it to Davis, said Gene Sementi, West Valley’s assistant superintendent.

Davis called a school security officer and described the ball, telling him it looked burnt. With that information, the security officer determined it wasn’t dangerous and told Davis to bring the ball to the Millwood Early Childhood Education Center, behind the district office.

During that meeting at the second school, they decided Davis should call authorities. Then Davis returned to Pasadena Park with the ball.

Meanwhile, two children were tossing another of the tennis balls back and forth, Reagan said.

The children eventually gave the ball to a teacher, who took it inside the school building and threw it into a trash can, Sementi said.

“There were several other balls out on the field. A baseball with the wrapping coming off was in the same garbage can,” Sementi said, adding the children may have been playing with it and not the explosive device. When authorities arrived, they took the ball from the principal’s trunk and the one from the trash can. Sheriff’s deputies searched the school and found a third ball in a Dumpster, officials said. All three tennis balls were destroyed by the sheriff’s office.

On Friday “our custodial staff came in early … and searched the playground to make sure there was nothing left overnight,” Shields said. “The school also held a brief assembly to tell the children that if they see something out of the ordinary or unusual, leave it there and immediately contact an adult.”

Sementi said West Valley staff hadn’t received training on issues like handling potentially dangerous situations in six or seven years.

But the Legislature recently mandated such training for school officials that must be completed before the start of the next school year, Sementi said.

“Five or six principals have received the training so far,” Sementi said. Davis “is scheduled to receive the training within the next couple weeks.”

The elementary school staff also held a meeting to determine how to handle similar situations, Sementi said.