Middle schooler expelled after threats to hurt self, others

Frontier Middle School student given emergency expulsion after online correspondence

MOSES LAKE — A student at Frontier Middle School has received an emergency expulsion after it was reported that he expressed a desire to hurt himself and others in a chat room conversation last weekend.

The student, whose identity could not be released, had spoken with at least one other student at FMS, who later reported the incident to assistant principal Jon Lane.

The emergency expulsion differs from an expulsion in that it is for an undetermined amount of time until the seriousness of a situation has been identified.

After receiving word of the incident Monday morning, Lane said he notified police immediately, as well as Grant Mental Health Care and the boy's parents.

P.J. De Benedetti, special assistant to the superintendent for the MLSD, said it was later determined that up to four people were involved in the online correspondence, but that only two had been identified as students at FMS.

Lane said he was told by the student who reported the incident that this was not the first time the other student had made references to harming himself or others.

Considering recent cases over the years involving school violence, including the 1996 shooting in Moses Lake at FMS when 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis walked into an algebra class and killed a teacher and two students, health care and school district officials say staying involved and alert to the lives of students is key to preventing fatal incidents.

Signs of depression, increased anger, a decrease in academic performance and spending more time than usual on the computer are just a few things Bill Fode, director of clinical services at Grant Mental Health Care, said parents and the community need to look for.

In Fode's experience, which has included working closely with the Moses Lake School District, students need to feel they can approach and trust school administrators.

"As kids hear those comments, they need to tell an adult in their school," he said. "With school shootings it's pretty obvious that something has been said to someone and nothing's been said as they thought they were just kidding."

The popularity of chat rooms and e-mail is a trend Fode thinks parents need to monitor with their kids, while realizing it can also be a positive form of communication.

Eliminating chat room or e-mail conversations is not the answer, said Fode, explaining "there's those other kids that shrink away from social contact. When on the computer, it's a faceless social support."

When asked if he had been working on this most recent case at FMS, Fode refrained from comment.

A letter was sent home Tuesday to parents at FMS, informing them of the incident.

De Benedetti said the student who is reported to have made the statements in a chat room is being held for treatment at a medical facility in Spokane for anywhere between four and six days.

Lane said that time period could be longer and refrained from commenting as to what grade level the student is in or whether he would be coming back to school for the remainder of the 2004-2005 school year.

"We're trying to respond to the seriousness of the incident," he said.

De Benedetti said this is the first case of its kind that he can recall during the school year so far.

The student who talked to the boy who was expelled, "did a good job in trying to talk to him and encourage him to get help," said De Benedetti.