School placed on soft lockdown after threat reported, normal operations resume that morning

“As law enforcement was arriving at Henkle Middle School, Brian [Morris, principal] and I made the decision to go into a ‘soft lockdown.’ This means that students and staff can go about their regular business in the school, but the exterior doors are locked, and no one may leave or enter the school,” Superintendent Rich Polkinghorn told board members at the regularly scheduled White Salmon Valley School District meeting held later that day.

School and law enforcement personnel were initially unsuccessful in locating the student who allegedly made the threat, but around 10:45 a.m., contact was made with the family. After investigating, law enforcement determined the threat was non-credible, Polkinghorn said.

“The student in question was with their parents,” he said. “After questioning the student and their parents, law enforcement determined that it was safe to lift the ‘soft lockdown’ and resume normal school operations and activities.”

Polkinghorn said the incident was a good example of “See something, say something.”

“For many years, I have tried to teach students that if they ‘see something, they should say something.’ In this incident, a student told their parent about a safety concern at school,” he said.

Polkinghorn has been working on a standardized set procedures with a team of administrators, Education Service District (ESD) emergency operations director, law enforcement, and fire and EMS. Currently, each school has its own set of thorough but unique procedures, which “can lead to confusion for students, staff and our community,” he said.

“With the support of the committee and the ESD, we are preparing to adopt the standard response protocols that were developed by the I Love You Guys Foundation as a way to simplify and standardize our response to emergencies in our district,” he said.

Once completed — which he expects will happen this spring — the board will be asked for approval.

“Events like what happened today are unfortunately all too common in schools,” Polkinghorn said. “They are exhausting, require a lot of resources and training, and remind us, in a PTSD sort of way, of the violence many students in this country have had to confront. Fortunately for us, today, the situation was resolved relatively smoothly. But all too often, they aren’t.”

Polkinghorn thanked the Klickitat County Sheriff’s Office and White Salmon-Bingen Police Department for quickly responding, remaining on campus and staying in contact with school officials throughout the incident. He also thanked Morris, saying, “His calm demeanor and prompt communication worked well to give students and staff a sense of security.”

He added, “The classroom staff at Henkle/WPSIS were phenomenal at keeping students calm and focused while the office staff maintained their composure as they fielded a million phone calls and a lot of uncertainty.”