CHIMACUM — Students in several of the five Chimacum schools were sent home Wednesday after a threat that was sent to some 35 to 40 districts around the state, according to authorities.
Crescent School District in Joyce also received the threatening email at about 10:57 a.m., but the school was not evacuated, according to Clallam County Sheriff Brian King.
No explosives were found at either district.
All Chimacum students had evacuated and were outside and safe just before 1 p.m. Wednesday, according to an East Jefferson Fire Rescue (EJFR) press release.
“Schools are closing due to this threat,” the fire district said.
Jefferson County Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Brett Anglin said an anonymous generalized bomb threat had been emailed to at least 40 schools across the state.
Chimacum in East Jefferson County and Crescent in Clallam County appeared to be the only North Olympic Peninsula school districts that received the threat.
“Walkthroughs were done of each building and Washington State Patrol bomb squad was dispatched and law enforcement eventually cleared the facilities around 1:30 p.m., finding no credible evidence to the threat,” Anglin said.
King said the Crescent School District received the threatening email around 10:57 a.m. However, the schools were not evacuated.
Crescent School District said Superintendent Dave Bingham received the threat in his email junk mail folder and was made aware of the email at about 12:15 p.m. by a school superintendent on the Interstate 5 corridor.
“An email was generated and sent out to the superintendents of 35 school districts in the State of Washington this morning,” the Crescent district said in a statement issued at about 2:35 p.m.
“Mr. Bingham was able to contact local law enforcement and read a long email string from other superintendents and it was determined the threat was not credible,” the statement said.
“The email list included districts in the alphabetical group C to E and it appears that the Crescent School District was the only Clallam County District in the email chain.”
Chimacum parents received an automated message via phone, EJFR said.
Buses transported children on their usual routes from the outer parking lots, according to EJFR, which asked parents not to go to schools to pick up their children.
“The CSD is asking that you meet your kids at the bus,” the press release said.
“If your children do not ride the bus, parents may meet their children at the Chimacum High School Bus Barn.”
The school district serves 733 PK-12 students this year, according to U.S. News & World Report.
The Chimacum School District, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, East Jefferson Fire Rescue and the State Patrol established a unified command that was disbanded later in the day.
KREM2 of Spokane said multiple schools across Eastern and Central Washington closed because of emails suggesting that bombs had been hidden in schools. Other news sources said that at least 12 schools received threats of gun violence in Illinois on Wednesday.
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Reporter Ken Park can be reached at kpark@peninsuladailynews.com.
Managing Editor Brian McLean contributed to this story.
