Police respond to bomb threat at Grass Valley Elementary School

Students at Grass Valley Elementary School in Camas are back in class following a bomb threat Thursday morning.

According to Camas School District Public Information Officer Doreen McKercher, a student saw the bomb threat scrawled on an exterior wall of the school, which is located at 3000 N.W. Grass Valley Drive.

She said it was written in chalk in what looked like a child’s handwriting.

School staff were then alerted.

“The staff saw it, they didn’t want the kids to be alarmed, so they washed it off,” said Camas Police Department Sgt. Scot Boyles.

Boyles said the CPD was notified and a half-dozen officers were sent to the scene to investigate.

Students and staff were evacuated from the building while law enforcement as well as school district operations staff conducted a thorough search of the building, looking for anything suspicious or out of place. Nothing was discovered, so students were released back to their classrooms.

McKercher said parents were notified of the incident by phone, email and text message through the district’s messaging system. They were given the option of picking up their students.

“Quite a few kids got picked up,” McKercher said. “But there are still many kids at school today.”

Grass Valley has approximately 508 students, in addition to 31 teachers and 27 classified staff.

Boyles said that as a precaution, an officer was stationed at the school for the rest of the day.

He described the incident as a “low-level threat.”

“We made sure people were safe,” he said. “That is our top priority. That is what we do. In this day and age, you have to take every threat seriously.”

Boyles said the incident is currently being investigated, and school district staff members are reviewing surveillance camera footage.

“There is an active investigation,” he said.