Threat made at Cheney Middle

Cheney Middle School was the site of a threat of violence that was found on a stall wall in one of the girls' bathrooms on Monday, Sept. 23.

According to Cheney Police Department Capt. Rick Beghtol, a sixth-grade girl found writing on the wall around 12:25 p.m. stating "Next school shooting 9/23 or 9/24," with the numbers 4/20 written beneath but scratched out. The latter is a reference to the April 20, 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado that left 13 people dead and 20 wounded.

Cheney Public Schools Superintendent Rob Roettger said officials immediately contacted the school resource officer and the Cheney police to investigate. While serious, Roettger said they did not feel it was serious enough to go put the school in lockdown.

"Of course we took the threat seriously, we wanted to find out who it was," Roettger said.

Beghtol said school district director of safety Kelly Hembach, SRO Dane Gilman and others went over video from cameras outside the bathroom. Roettger said they were able to make an identification of a suspect - which he believed was a sixth-grade female.

After an extensive investigation by the CMS admin team, district administrators and members of the Cheney Police Department, the source of the threat has been determined," Cheney Middle School Principal Mike Stark wrote in a Tuesday email to parents. "We are pleased to share that the threat was not credible and all students continue to be in a safe place."

On Tuesday, both the middle school and Cheney High School about a half mile away on North 6th Street had extra police personnel present as a safety precaution. Roettger said additional adults and administrators were on hand at the middle school to help students - with some adults bringing donuts to welcome them as they came to school that morning. If needed, the district will bring in additional counselors for students who request assistance.

"The community truly rallied to show their support, care and concern for our students," Roettger said in a statement. "It is disheartening that children are growing up in a time where they have to think about school violence and fear for their safety."

Roettger said that approximately 130 students out of the roughly 620 at Cheney Middle School were absent on Tuesday. Some were likely normal excused absences or legitimate illness, he added, but many others might not be.

"That is a pretty significant amount (of absences) so it is disruptive to the student environment," Roettger said.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].