POULSBO — By happenstance, school districts and law enforcement from Kitsap and Jefferson counties came together Oct. 20 to discuss the creation of a cooperative focused on school safety and security, four days before the shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck High School.
“The timing was eerie,” said Greg Lynch, superintendent of the Olympic Educational Service District 114.
School districts from Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap and Mason counties met with police, fire and sheriff’s departments. Safety and security issues discussed included natural disasters and crisis, such as school shootings.
Lynch said the ESD strives to provide resources that can be shared, from training to equipment purchased at a group discount. Schools that conduct disaster training can actually prevent a disaster through proactive effort, he said.
The North Kitsap School District supports the cooperative and has been “an active player in the discussion,” Lynch said.
In an email to the Herald, NKSD Superintendent Patty Page said she is a “strong believer in the ESD and the power of co-ops.”
“We can do more united than separate,” she said. “Bringing multiple agencies together to establish protocol and processes takes coordination, not isolation.”
The cooperative is modeled after that in ESD 105 in Yakima, Lynch said. That cooperative began in the 2013-14 school year. Districts there have since strengthened their relationships with county emergency management, developed response standards, purchased and provided training for school personnel on medical triage, and enhanced relationships with law enforcement agencies, according to a presentation given Oct. 20.
Benefits to districts in the Olympic ESD could include sharing professional development costs, maintaining compliance of safety and security laws, improving the capacity of schools to prevent and respond to crisis, and building a common framework and shared approach to coordinating emergency response, according to the presentation.
The North Kitsap School District has emergency plans in place, according to Page. The district practices lockdowns. The district recently updated all of the schools’ data into a system that is shared with law enforcement, Page wrote.
“Every situation is unique, so along with having plans in place, we count on professionalism, judgment, and leadership of our administrators and staff,” Page wrote.
LOOKING FOR RISK FACTORS
On Oct. 24, Jaylen R. Fryberg, a 15-year-old student at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, shot five friends — two of them his cousins — in the cafeteria. The freshman athlete then turned the .40-caliber handgun on himself. Fryberg and two other students died; three remain in area hospitals, two in critical condition.
Those who knew Fryberg described him as athletic, friendly, outgoing, involved in his Tulalip culture. Just days before the shootings, the freshman class elected him homecoming prince. But that exterior belied inner turmoil; comments he wrote on his Twitter account indicate he was deeply troubled by personal crises.
Page is confident that the North Kitsap School District is equipped to identify students who are in crisis. One, the school district has counselors at all schools. “I believe our staff do a good job at looking for risk factors [with students],” she said.
Kingston High School has an additional full-time counselor who works with at-risk students. The counselor is supported through grant money managed by the service district. North Kitsap High School, Wolfle Elementary and Suquamish Elementary have an additional half-time counselor.
Two, the North Kitsap School District entered into an agreement this year with the ESD to receive services from the Crisis Response Team. A team of counselors provides faster response during emergencies, and trains districts to help prevent emergencies.
Three, the district safety mantra is “If you see something, say something.” Late Oct. 28, Poulsbo police arrested a North Kitsap High School student who allegedly told a fellow student he planned to “shoot up” the school. The fellow student told his parent, who notified police.
Investigators found guns in the student’s home — registered to his parents, but unlocked and unsecured — as well as ominous writings that Townsend described as “odd ramblings.” The student “had the capability to carry this out,” Townsend said.
Had the fellow student not told his parent about the alleged threat, the police department would not have known about it, Townsend said.
CLOSE RELATIONSHIP
The North Kitsap School District and Poulsbo Police Department work closely together. On Oct. 28, Poulsbo police called the district to track down the location of the suspect and witnesses. The police were working with the district at midnight as district administrators prepared an emailed notice to parents and guardians.
“We have a really good working situation with the school district,” Townsend said.
Poulsbo police have access to the layout of schools in the district to help plan for and respond to crises, Townsend said. Police are about three minutes away from any priority call, he said.
Townsend said how police respond to situations has evolved for situations such as an active shooter on a campus. In the past, officers would form a team before confronting a suspect. Officers are now being trained to go in if they are the first one there.
“In the first few minutes if something is going to happen, you need to stop it,” Townsend said.
Ditto for school staff members, who need to be aware of the situation and, if necessary, be first responders. “The concept is you can hide, but if the threat is coming to you, you’re probably going to have to do something about it,” Townsend said. “Someone is going to step up and do something. More than likely, the police won’t be there before it happens.”
Townsend said he’d like to see a return of resource officers to local school campuses; those were eliminated because of budget cutbacks. However, there are civilian security guards for the secondary schools.
OTHER THREATS THIS SCHOOL YEAR
There have been several threats or acts of violence in Western Washington high schools in the past two months.
— On Sept. 9, former Kingston High School student Matthew Smiley was arrested for felony harassment and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. School authorities told the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Department that Smiley had voiced threats to “shoot up the school,” according to a statement of probable cause. Smiley was charged with felony harassment for making threats to kill. He is in Kitsap County Jail on $2 million bail.
— On Oct. 23, three Central Kitsap School District schools were locked down for 25 minutes after authorities were notified of a possible gun threat. Investigators later determined the threat was unsubstantiated.
— On Oct. 24, Jaylen R. Fryberg, a 15-year-old student at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, shot five friends — two of them his cousins — in the cafeteria. The freshman athlete then turned the .40-caliber handgun on himself. Fryberg and two other students died; three remain in area hospitals, two in critical condition.
— On Oct. 28, Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist charged a 16-year-old with felony harassment for using his Twitter account to threaten to use a gun at Franklin Pierce High School.
