Threat averted — quietly — at Colony Middle School

PALMER — Thursday afternoon, more than 1,000 students packed the Colony Middle School Gym for a welcoming assembly while Troopers conducted an investigation in the administration offices of a threatening note written by a student that was found and turned into teachers.

“It was a very serious threat,” said CMS Principal Mary McMahon. “(the female student who alerted authorities) did exactly the right thing as a first responder.”

Assistant Principal Tom Lincoln and Safety and Security Officer Pat O’Neal from Colony High School came across the street to help deal with the ‘credible threat’ while McMahon ran the welcome assembly and participated in the student-staff basketball game. The student’s locker was searched immediately and was held in the office. He was handcuffed and released to AST at 4:30. The 13-year-old male was arrested and taken to Mat-Su Youth Facility. After-school activities were cancelled but no other students were removed from school and the students were not in danger by being inside the school at that time, officials said.

“We have a real serious situation going on...it’s contained,” McMahon said to CHS staff.

“I ran the assembly; it was awesome. Nobody knew. There was no reason for anybody to know because it was being investigated and it was turned over to the proper authorities.

It was really peaceful and calm in here because they had everything under control.”

McMahon praised the female student who found the threatening note, read part of it, and immediately turned it into a teacher. CMS teachers were able to identify who wrote the note based on handwriting, removed the student for questioning and notified the student’s parents. Fifth-graders from Pioneer Peak, Finger Lake, Machetanz, Sherrod, Cottonwood Creek, and Shaw Elementary Schools were at CMS. McMahon’s daughter was in the building as an incoming sixth-grader. McMahon is a past President of the Alaska Council of School Administrators and Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals. McMahon was born and raised in Alaska. She also met with Governor Walker after the Parkland school shooting as part of further safety measures in Alaska.

“I want what’s best for all of Alaska and our schools... “At some point he [AST] believes there was a gun in our building,” said McMahon.

Troopers were on scene within 20 minutes to handle the situation. McMahon said it was one of the largest crowds packed in the gym she has seen based on the 750 CMS students, the 250 fifth-graders, and the parents in attendance for the assembly. MSBSD Behavioral Health Supervisor Dennis Boyer was on scene at the exact time the note came in for a separate matter and stayed through the end of the school day to help with the investigation along with AST and the CHS staff. Parents were contacted after school when the investigation was completed.

“There was no reason for me to have anyone panic because we had it under control. I didn’t have all the information at that time. The Trooper was getting that information, our risk assessor was getting that information. I called the parent of that student, I called the people who needed to know at that time and then alerted everyone else afterward after we had it taken care of,” said McMahon. “At at no point that we knew of was any kid at risk.”

Staff searched every locker and found nothing of concern, McMahon said. The student who found the note did not tell anyone, including her parents, until McMahon made a call to the her home. School went on as scheduled on Friday. McMahon held a quick, five-minute staff meeting to address the situation from Thursday and made a long announcement at the start of school. MSBSD Safety and Emergency Preparedness Manager Steve Paine was on site Friday morning as well.

“All the community agencies in our school and our district came together to place this as a high priority,” said McMahon. “I would never put everyone in the gym in one place if there was a threat.”

When the building was cleared after school was let out, one student was left waiting for her ride on the sidewalk. An AST cruiser was parked in front of the school. The student told McMahon that at no time during the day or after school did she feel unsafe.

A local church group meets at CMS on Sundays. McMahon frequently travels to worship in Anchorage with her family, but stayed with her school as people prayed over every part of the school for 30 minutes. McMahon gave a ‘Colony green’ colored safety device out to each member of the staff as part of Teacher Appreciation week to put on their keychains. This had nothing to do with the credible threat on Thursday, but McMahon is working toward a laundry list of items to increase school safety within CMS and throughout the state. McMahon said that CMS is creating a room called ‘The Keep’ as the safest place in the castle to be a resource for trauma affected kids.

“Kids can be in a healthy environment here and that gets them through, but if they’re going home for the summer to an unhealthy environment they, on a subconscious level, start to push themselves away from us and we see bad behaviors,” said McMahon. “Research says that the average family spends 12 minutes of quality time a day with their kid.”

McMahon learned that there are no bomb-sniffing dogs readily available in the state. McMahon stationed herself at the front door following the CHS safety threat earlier this semester. McMahon told a parent who came to take his daughter out of school at CMS that she was going to stay in front of the school for the rest of the day and protect the kids. McMahon played rugby in college and said she is good for one tackle, if necessary. McMahon participates in the school safety and well-being challenge committee, and a survey has been put out by the MSBSD with over 2,000 responses. McMahon said that MSBSD Superintendent Dr. Monica Goyette is working on a Safety Resource Officer to be place at Colony Schools.

“We have a need for security officers in our schools we have a need for mental health professionals to be working in our schools we have counselors but we need mental health professionals and if our community really wants to come together to do something we’re going to fund schools adequately....We need our Borough Assembly to fund education at a higher level. We need more teachers and resources to limit class size and meet the needs of each of our students,” said McMahon.

The student who wrote the note will not be permitted in CMS, CHS or any MSBSD school without a safety plan in place.

“Over the last year-and-a-half seen a lot of people make student safety and well being a priority,” said Alaska Commissioner of Education Dr. Michael Johnson.

Mat-Su Borough School District Superintendent Dr. Monica Goyette issued an official statement from the school district that read: “It is a priority for MSBSD to make our schools not only physically safe, but emotionally safe places for our students. Our district is strategically working with community partners, behavioral health professionals, families, law enforcement and our elected officials to increase our efforts of prevention and preparedness. If you would like to know more about this, please read our Keeping School Safe report. Our mission is “prepare all students for success” and safety will continue to be our priority now and into the future.”