Airsoft gun puts Sultan Middle School in lockdown

Sultan Middle School went into a lockdown Tuesday in response to a student bringing a modified airsoft pistol into the building.

The Sultan School District reported the incident through social media at 11 a.m. that morning, a little less than two hours after it occurred; no one was injured.

The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office and the school resource officer were called to the scene.

“Snohomish County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested the student, swept the building, and released the lockdown,” according to a letter to parents.

Superintendent Dan Chaplik said staff followed safety protocol and the situation was handled very well. The orange tip of the airsoft pistol had been removed. The modification made it look like a real gun, he said.

“At no point was anyone in danger once we became aware of the situation,” he said.

Chaplik declined to comment on how it became known that the student had the airsoft pistol. The school district and administrators will follow Sultan School Board disciplinary policy, and will continue cooperating with law enforcement, according to the letter to parents.

The school district works to make its schools safe for students and staff, and bringing a weapon to school will not be tolerated and is not acceptable, he said — the student will face disciplinary action.

“We will follow to the strongest extent possible what state law allows us to do in any situation, not just specific to this one, if some kind of weapon is brought on campus,” he said.

Parents responded on social media to the school district's letter. Some wrote they were happy with how the situation was handled while others wanted more information.

Parent Rena Pedersen Echols said she was unsure she would have heard about the situation until Tuesday evening if she hadn't logged into a Facebook account that morning and saw the letter on the school district's page, which she happens to subscribe to. She wished she had been directly contacted by the school district.

“I still strongly feel that is not the best way to transmit really serious and sensitive information about my child,” she said.

Echols said she received a robocall hours after it occurred. She said she understands staff was tied up with the fallout in the hours after the incident. Her daughter didn't have much more to say when she came home, she said, and Echols still doesn't know if the student meant to harm anyone.

Chaplik said school district administrators have recently begun revising threat response procedures. A new safety committee was formed this year. Members have been meeting once a week, he said.

The plan is to address potential situations that have become increasingly common in communities across the country, Chaplik said. It should be reasonable to expect students to go to and return from school each day, he said.

The school district has already responded to a number of threats since the school year started. In October, classes were delayed the day after a threatening post was made through Sarahah.com, a website that allows people to send comments anonymously; someone planned to bring a gun to school.

In late February, Snohomish High School received a violent threat, directed toward a specific person. The Snohomish School District reported the FBI investigated the threat. The message made its way to Sultan High School students through social media. It was determined to be a part of a chain hitting schools throughout the country that could be abbreviated as SHS.

The latter incident came about a week after 17 students and staff were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Chaplik said staff has been working with law enforcement on what procedures could be put in place to respond to active-shooter situations. All buildings are being surveyed, and potential security measures are being developed. By the start of the next school year training for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate (ALICE) protocol will be incorporated into emergency drills, he said.

The program was developed through the ALICE Training Institute, founded by a husband, who was a law enforcement officer, and wife, who worked at an elementary school. Through the program communities are trained how to respond to an active shooter.

Counselors were made available to students who wanted more support after Tuesday's event, according to the letter to parents.

“Sultan School District administrators, faculty, security resource officer and Snohomish County Sheriff’s Deputies remain constantly vigilant; keeping all of our campuses safe is our sustained top priority as we educate our students,” according to the letter.