Many Columbia Falls parents kept their children home from school on Thursday after a threat of a school shooting was found scrawled on a restroom wall Monday night.

Columbia Falls School Superintendent Steve Bradshaw said that a custodian found the words “School shooting 5/26” written in a restroom at Columbia Falls Junior High School.

School officials investigated, were unable to determine if the threat was a hoax or legitimate, and on Tuesday afternoon started notifying parents about the threat and let parents know that there would be no consequences if students were kept home from school.

Classrooms were somewhat empty on Wednesday, and even more students were missing on Thursday, Bradshaw said.

Those who did show up to classes were greeted by an increased police presence, with two officers on each school campus in the district and five officers at the junior high.

At the junior high campus, staffers checked bags for any weapons.

“We checked every backpack coming into the building,” Bradshaw said.

Bradshaw was hopeful students would return in full force today, although many families had already notified him that their students intended to stay home until next week.

“We did tell the parents that there would be no consequences whatsoever,” Bradshaw said of the absences. “We are being very respectful of parents’ concern about safety.”

The investigation into the event continues.

“It’s our hope that we do find out who the person is because of the amount of time and energy and loss of school educational time. We consider it a very serious offense and possibly even criminal offense,” Bradshaw said.

He thanked the U.S. Border Patrol, Flathead County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff’s Posse and Columbia Falls Police Department for their assistance during the threat.

“It is extremely nice to have the cooperation that we have,” Bradshaw said. “Kudos to the law enforcement in this valley.”

Bradshaw said that some people might be critical of the decision to wait a few hours before issuing a message to parents or the decision to check students' bags. He said that both decisions came after much thought, with student safety in mind.

“We worked as hard as we could to keep their children safe,” Bradshaw said.

Anyone with information about who might have written the message can contact Columbia Falls Police at 892-3234.

Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or [email protected].