BLHS Gun Incident Provokes Revamp of District Safety Plan

When Bonney Lake High School assistant principal Brian Sheerer learned that a 15-year-old freshman might have a gun at school, he did not share that information with the security officer he sent to detain the boy.

Unaware that the boy might be armed, security officer walked  him through the halls of Bonney Lake High School--while the student had a .22-caliber pistol in his pants pocket.

The school district doesn't want to repeat that mistake.

“The most predictable response to learning that a student has a weapon is to get the kid out of class immediately. If a weapon hasn’t been displayed, [school supervisors] want to get them out of class to figure out what’s going on,” said Ann Cook, head of communications for the Sumner School District. “Even though it only takes five minutes for the police to come, [the school] has to adjust their thinking and wait until the police arrive to take any action.”

The prompted a review of Sumner School District emergency policy. While finding a gun on campus remains rare, the district does have plans in place for even more unusual events, such as .

But it did not have protocol for a "report of weapon" incident, said Cook.

"We checked around when we started this process, and the surrounding school districts didn't have this kind of policy, either," she added.

Cook said that much of the new procedure already was addressed in one of the other 53 plans. The biggest difference in this plan, she said, is that law enforcement wants to be involved immediately when any weapon is found or rumored to be on campus.

The student was expelled and has been in the second degree and unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon on school facilities. His case is currently in juvenile court.

The school district is now working with local law enforcement from Bonney Lake and Sumner to draft an emergency plan to deal with students carrying weapons. The district does not want to publicly announce any details of the plan due to security issues.

Cook added that when a student was found with something like a pocketknife, school officials have generally stepped in and handled the situation without law enforcement involvement. While students in possession of knives far outnumber students found with guns, it does happen every year in the Sumner School District.

“One or two guns show up at school every year. Generally it’s in a vehicle, locker or backpack and not associated with a threat to anyone. Almost always [the student] just forgot it was there. In elementary and middle school, we actually see bullet [possession] too,” said Cook. “It’s in that mode of casual show and tell, and the radar goes up when the students talk about it and then we respond to it.”

The school district has two psychologists on staff trained in threat assessment and can help diagnose whether or not a student seems capable of acting on their threats. However, police involvement can help make sure the student realizes the severity of their actions and takes that responsibility off the district.

“Most threats are deemed not credible, but [the school district] is not the organization that determines that credibility,” said Cook.