A threat to school safety was reported to MTHS administration after school on Tuesday, Sept. 18. An MTHS student had their phone stolen during the school day, and in the afternoon friends and family members began to receive dozens of text messages containing vulgar and profane language. One of the text messages sent to friends and family of the student stated, “I’m going to shoot up the school.”

Principal Greg Schellenberg has made it clear that the school administration handles every threat to school safety with an “abundance of caution.” Upon receiving reports of threats to school safety, the MTHS administration immediately notified the Mountlake Terrace Police Department and the Edmonds School District Security Department.

“We continue to follow our normal security protocols, which include maintaining minimal points of entry to our building, an on-campus police officer and continued monitoring of the building by security and administrators,” Schellenberg said. “Beyond these steps, we have determined that no additional security measures are warranted at this time.”  

All school programs and activities will continue as planned throughout the remainder of the school week. School Resource Officer (SRO) Kyle O’Hagan will remain on-site to ensure safety on the MTHS campus as per his duties as the full time SRO for MTHS, a role which he assumed atb the beginning of this school year.

An investigation has been opened into the sender of the threatening text messages. MTHS administrators plan to send out information in the coming days detailing the progress of the investigation and the means through which the investigation will proceed.

Family members who received the threats from the student’s stolen phone were quick to report the text messages directly to the MTHS administration. Schellenberg continues to insist that all students and community members who become aware of concerning incidents or threats to school safety directly report their concerns to the MTHS administration.

In addition to filing reports directly with the MTHS administration, concerned students and community members can use the Safe Schools Alert tip reporting service, which accepts reports at all times. Reports can be filed with Safe Schools Alert through phone calls and text messages using the phone number 425-551-7393, through email using the email address 14**@al****.us or at the Safe Schools Alert website with the address http://1480.alert1.us.