No threat at IHS, parents remain concerned
IMPERIAL — Imperial High School parents felt a bit more at ease after an initial threat of danger to IHS students and staff on Friday was lifted by city officials, and police patrols and presence was said to be increased on campus.
Imperial resident Julie Gray assured her kids while dropping them off Tuesday morning at IHS that with the extra police on campus, it would be the safest place they could be.
About 45 minutes after dropping them off, Gray returned to the school to pick her children up after they text messaged her, stating they felt unsafe because they had not seen what they felt was acceptable police presence on campus.
The Imperial resident then felt justified in taking her children out of school after she walked onto campus without being confronted by a police officer or school staff member.
“I kind of felt they (my kids) were just being a little paranoid but after I was able to gain access, I felt completely justified that the school had not done enough at that point this morning to protect my children from anybody being able to walk onto campus with ill intent,” said Gray. “There was a couple extra patrol cars outside the school in the morning as people were walking into campus, but when I was there, I did not see a single police officer. I walked onto campus completely unnoticed.”
The Imperial resident then met with school administration to express her concerns, and was just one of the many parents that had been contacting administration since Friday in an attempt to get more information regarding the school threat.
This prompted the city of Imperial to host a press conference at Imperial Council Chambers here Tuesday afternoon.
According to a city of Imperial news release, IHS officials contacted IPD on Friday regarding a potential threat to students and an investigation was conducted.
During the press conference, Imperial Police Department Chief Leonard J. Barra confirmed that after IPD’s investigation, the threat was determined to be valid and an 18-yearold Imperial High senior was arrested.
Karl P. Manaig was taken into custody at 6:42 p.m. Friday at an undisclosed location in Imperial by Imperial police officers and was booked into county jail for alleged criminal threats, stated county Sheriff’s Office arrest records.
Manaig was held on a $500,000 bond for the alleged felony offense and is out on bond, stated the press release on Tuesday.
When asked during the press conference if Manaig was under house arrest, IHS Principal Jose Apodaca answered, “I don’t have the answer to that, I do know that our police department is aware of the fact that the student is out and we’re working together to ensure that we’re keeping our students safe.”
Apodaca also stated the 18-year-old was the sole suspect in Friday’s investigation. “To the best of our knowledge, he’s working alone,” said Apodaca. “We have no reason to believe at this stage in the game there are any other people involved with him.” The IHS principal confirmed Manaig is currently suspended from school, though was unable to disclose for how many days his suspension was for. Barra also stated Manaig did not attend school Tuesday.
Due to the incident still being investigated, IPD could not disclose if Manaig was found in possession of any weapons, though Barra did state that a rumor of Manaig having a list of potential targets was false.
“As of right now, I’m working with our officers to have more officers at the schools,” said the IPD chief. “We’re not just cruising around the area, we actually had officers in front of the schools. We also have officers that are in plain clothes just to make sure the safety of the students and the community is taken care of.” To conclude the conference, the police chief thanked IHS for helping in the investigation.
“I personally want to thank IHS teachers, administration and especially the IHS students themselves. They got involved, they saw something that wasn’t right and they got involved. They didn’t stay quiet,” said Barra, who also confirmed an active shooter drill that was scheduled for today at IHS has been postponed. “That scenario is being postponed at this time right now,” stated the IPD police chief. “The officers that were involved in that scenario are putting their full time into this case and several other cases.”
While concerned parents filled the Council Chambers and attended the press conference, members of the media were only allowed to ask questions to officials during the conference.
“I did what I felt was best and I will keep them out of school until I feel IHS does something, in my opinion, that is above and beyond what happened to me today by walking on that campus,” expressed Gray, who believes an ideal change would be for any visitors at IHS to be buzzed in through a door and be required to show identification. While Imperial resident Krista Flores did choose to send her two IHS kids to school Tuesday morning, she did agree with Gray that extra security measures need to be taken at each of the school’s entrances.
“I don’t feel like it was taken that serious. Just because the suspect was arrested, obviously they said it was a valid threat, why wasn’t more done,” Flores said. “I sent my kids to school today in hopes that in the greatest city in Imperial County, they would’ve done more to protect our kids. Here I find out that was not the case, so I’m a pretty pissed off taxpayer and parent.”
Flores compared the recent incident to how a middle school near IHS handled a school threat that was made a few years ago. “They had an incident where there was a threat, and they had, the very next day, metal detectors, police presence, no backpacks allowed and people weren’t allowed on campus unless they showed their I.D.,” said Flores. “I’m surprised to not see the same being implemented at the high school level.”
Flores was satisfied with how quickly the school addressed the incident and kept parents up to date, as at about 8 p.m. Friday, the IHS principal sent out an e-mail to all IHS parents.
“Due to the fact that incidents may involve underaged minors, we must adhere to confidentiality regulations,” Apodaca stated in the e-mail. “Rest assured that we have taken measures to address today’s concerns with the appropriate authorities, and we assure you that there is no immediate threat to our staff or students.” With his daughter currently a sophomore at IHS and his younger child set to attend IHS in a few years, parent Gerald Robinson believes an armed security guard on campus is needed.
Robinson drew the comparison to how Brawley Union High School has had an armed security guard for the past 10 years, who is on campus during school hours each school day and is paid for by the school and the city of Brawley.
“Budget or whatever, I think you gotta do whatever it takes to keep the kids safe,” said Robinson. “I commend Brawley Union High School for doing that for 10 years.”
Robinson also suggested hiring a retired law enforcement officer or military veteran to patrol the campus.
“You got veterans that are trained to shoot. Hire these veterans man. Let’s get up some money. Let’s ask for grants and hire these veterans on the street that fought for us,” stated Robinson. “They can shoot a mile away, and you’re going to tell me they’re not good enough to protect our kids.” Robinson also brought up the importance of parents taking the time to understand their own children and what issues they might be dealing with.
“They gotta look at the big picture, not just now. Because if this is just like the Florida deal, the kid got kicked out of the school and he came back to retaliate on the school,” mentioned Robinson. “The bottom line is nowadays, you gotta listen to these kids and see what’s going on. If you name call a kid, it’s the same thing as bullying.”