Washington High School receives threat, police to remain in building through end of week

WASHINGTON - Washington High School will have police on site for the remainder of the week after school officials found a threatening message on a bathroom stall.

School officials discovered a threatening message on a restroom stall on Tuesday, Sept. 24. In an email sent out to parents, the school district noted the threat included notice of a potential incident that would occur the upcoming Friday. The school district alerted parents that police would be in the building through the end of the week. This is Homecoming week for Washington schools.

Superintendent Willie Stone said that threat was directed only to the high school and that other buildings in the district are not involved. Stone also stated the school district and police are continuing to investigate the threat. Police would remain inside the buildings and in the halls of the school, Stone added.

The threat to the high school comes less than two weeks after the school went into lockdown 'to address a situation where a student was creating a disturbance in school and damaging District property.” Stone said that an investigation is ongoing and he cannot say whether the incidents are isolated. In his message to parents, Stone wrote that ' I struggle because I don't want to incite panic, but at the same time as a parent, I would want to know about it and that the school is aggressively dealing with it.”

In terms of preventive measures, Stone repeated that the district and police are continuing to investigate and plan to keep police in the building for security.

Further details on the threat and incident have not been released. The Union will continue to monitor this story.