Student communication alerts knife threat

An incident involving a middle school-aged student with a knife was handled swiftly thanks to good communication from fellow students, Sequim School District officials noted last week.

In an email to parents and guardians on Feb. 8, Sequim school’s superintendent Regan Nickels detailed an incident that indicated that, following school that day, a student yelled at a small group of other students and “produced a knife that concerned them.” The group of students returned to the school and alerted administrators.

”Administration was able to track down the student who had boarded a bus,” Nickels wrote. “Our school district SRO [school resource officer] was dispatched to meet the bus along with school administration. Administration acted swiftly and secured both the student and the situation.”

Nickels said that as an investigation takes place to determine details of the incident, the student will be off campus.

She wrote that the district’s emphasis of “See Something, Say Something” is working well.

”I want to make it clear that these issues are the exception, not indicative of the typical middle school student or experience, Nickels wrote on Feb. 8. “Our students are comfortable speaking up and this brings to light situations of which we may not have otherwise been aware. It is my hope that our community will balance this knowledge with the many successes, memorable events and wonderful work between students and teachers that occur each and every day at our middle school.”