Shadle Park High School student stabbed in restroom

A Shadle Park High School student is hospitalized after she was stabbed Thursday morning by another girl in a school bathroom.

The student suffered injuries that are serious but was in stable condition at the time she was transported to the hospital, according to the Spokane Police Department.

The altercation in the restroom involved four students. A second girl was injured but was not taken to a hospital. It’s unclear what spurred the violence or the relationship between those involved.

Spokane Police spokeswoman Julie Humphreys said one student was arrested on suspicion of first-degree assault and booked into the Spokane County Juvenile Detention Center.

Humphreys said she did not release the girl’s name because she is a minor.

The incident occurred at about 8:30 a.m., after the morning bell rang.

A school nurse and two unarmed safety specialists were on the scene within a minute of the stabbing, said Sandra Jarrard, a spokeswoman for the school district. The nurse administered first aid as school administration called Spokane Police, whom Humphreys said also responded in under a minute.

The incident was isolated, Jarrard said, spurring a “secure and teach” protocol, in which teachers lock their doors and continue teaching. Before noon, the “secure and teach” status was lifted and school operations returned to normal.

Parents were still able to pick up their students from the school. Students arriving late to school could also get to class by going through the main office.

There is no school on Friday because of a previously scheduled semester break.

The day off is reprieve for Shadle Park students, some of whom were still rattled as school let out Thursday, still buzzing about the fight on campus after school.

Megan Henson, grade 11, said she felt a “little unsafe” when she first heard about the stabbing while in class.

“It’s not exactly what you want to happen in your school bathroom,” Henson said.

She quickly texted her parents what was happening and that she was safe. She’ll be wary using school restrooms in the future, preferring a slightly more private one.

Freshman Ty Fagnant said school administration’s reaction to the fight added a feeling of security.

“The school had it under control pretty fast,” Fagnant said.

Safety in school restrooms has been a growing concern. Students said vaping is a borderline constant presence and has led some to forgo using school facilities at all.

Former Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl, who resigned late last year, told Spokesman-Review high school interns last summer that students smoking in school bathrooms is a frequent complaint.

“In fact, I’m hearing some schools, kids won’t even go to bathrooms,” Meidl said. “They’re worried about being assaulted, they’re worried about the drugs, the vaping, they’re worried about all these things.”

Meidl said his department doesn’t have the capacity to respond to a student vaping in a bathroom. Instead, he said he spoke with schools about deploying teachers to monitor bathrooms during breaks in the school day.

Several Spokane-area schools installed vape detectors in school restrooms. Vapor triggers an alarm and alerts staff, who attempt to catch the person vaping and intervene in the addiction.

The Washington Legislature is considering paying for vape detectors in a bill establishing a grant program for the purchase and installation of vape detectors.

Campus safety specialists handle issues that arise, but Meidl has said they sometimes have to wait 30 minutes for a commissioned police officer to respond to the school for a criminal complaint because the officer might be tied up with a higher priority call.

He said last summer that a school resource officer carries a different weight with students and expresses another layer of seriousness for students to stop criminal activity.

Ryan Lancaster with Spokane Public Schools said the district’s high schools all have two Campus Safety Specialists, instead of just one, as was the case in the past. Lancaster said most of the district’s middle schools also have their own safety specialist, and all of them have someone working part-time in that capacity.