LONGVIEW — Clatskanie Elementary and Middle/High schools were locked out Wednesday afternoon after another threatening message was found in a bathroom stall. This is the fourth threat at the schools in the past two weeks, and the third to prompt a lockdown or lockout.
The 10-year-old developmentally delayed student suspended from school last week for allegedly making the third threat had just returned to school Wednesday, his mother said, and he had a panic attack when the schools locked out.
“My son went into panic mode, (saying) ‘They’re going to blame me,’ ” Jamie Gray said. She said she had to “urgently” get her son, Myles Ibarra.
Gray had previously told The Daily News that there was no way Myles, who has cognitive delays from chemotherapy treatment, could have written the previous week’s threat. She said her son cannot spell some of the words written in that threat, which was penned in the bathroom.
This time, she said, a teacher was by her son’s side all day by design, so there was absolutely no way he could be accused of writing the latest threat.
“There’s four teachers that are present in my son’s special class, that I trust, and one of those four teachers were not allowed to leave his side at all,” Gray said. “You couldn’t blame him for anything. And that was all written down (in a plan).”
According to the Clatskanie Chief, school officials put the lockout in place at 1:34 p.m. Wednesday and lifted it at 2:12 p.m. Columbia County sheriff’s deputies responded to the school to investigate. The threats were similar to the threats found Feb. 11 and Feb. 12, which were written on the wall of girls’ bathrooms.
“Authorities had not identified the suspect or suspects in the Feb. 11 and Feb. 12 incidents as of Wednesday,” the Chief reported. “No official details have been released by authorities concerning this latest threat or if it is linked to the two previous incidents.”
The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office and the Clatskanie School District could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
The new rules for Myles came after a Tuesday “manifestation” meeting with the principal of the middle/high school, Gray said. Wednesday was Myles’ first day back at school since Feb. 14, and Gray said she couldn’t help thinking that there was a connection to the latest threat, even though she said she knows it “sounds crazy.”
“It just doesn’t add up,” Gray said. “It doesn’t make any sense unless someone is deliberately trying to get him trouble.”
Not only did Myles have an anxiety attack, Gray said, but her older daughter at the high school also called Gray “panicking,” asking if Myles was being blamed again.
“That’s what it does,” Gray said. “It sets off panic in your family. You should feel safe going to school at 10 (years old).”
Gray said while she’s not concerned that Myles will be blamed again, she is currently meeting with lawyers to assess her options. She said she’s worried that Myles won’t even want to go back to school after today’s panic attack.
“Someone has to be held accountable for what they did to my son,” Gray said. “It’s just not acceptable.”
