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Students return to schools Threat still leaves high absentee rate By VICKI GUARINO Absentees rates remained high at Medford schools Tuesday following Internet threats of violence. But attendance rates improved significantly from Monday, when some teachers worked in near-empty classrooms. Brief Internet chat more than three weeks ago prompted the disruption. Online talk threatened shootings at North Medford High School and Hedrick Middle School on Monday or Tuesday. Absentee rates soared to 60-75 percent Monday. On Tuesday, the absentee rate fell to about 35 percent at North, after nearing 75 percent on Monday. At Hedrick, the absentee rate was 23 percent Tuesday, after reaching 60 percent the day before. Typically, 8 to 10 percent of students are absent from Medford secondary schools. Some parents chose to accompany children to school -- a practice welcomed by school officials on any day as long as parents register at school offices. Medford police officers kept schools heavily patrolled both days. Medford's director of secondary education, Dan Zaklan, said Tuesday that classes have continued uninterrupted. "We're going to be here every day," Zaklan said. "We're going to have school every day and we have a great team to do it with -- the police, juvenile department and Jackson County Mental Health." The two county departments plus police agencies last fall joined in a compact with public schools that sets out responsibilities in dangerous or potentially dangerous situations. "We have safe schools," Zaklan said. Police are continuing their investigation into the Internet threats. So far, the investigation has indicated that six or seven participants in an Internet chat room talked about committing school shootings. The Internet incident lasted perhaps a half hour on April 22 -- two days after high school shootings in Littleton, Colo. -- then disappeared. Only four students actually saw the online discussion, police say, and no additional threats occurred. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA