In the search for the author of a threatening letter, the principal of Pacific Cascade Middle School is asking parents to check recently used fonts on their computers — and possibly expose their children to charges of felony harassment.

The middle school campus reopened Monday morning following a winter break that began three days early due to a threatening letter found outside a classroom.

The letter, discovered the morning of Dec. 17 as buses were already carrying students to school, indicated unspecified threats of violence to staff members at the end of a letter. The letter additionally promised violence at lunch time or at the school’s Dec. 19 pre-break winter assembly.

The Issaquah School District shut down the campus for three days as they worked with law enforcement to investigate the matter.

In an email bulletin to subscribers, school officials said they would report new information in the case as it developed. No new information was released over the break, but the school reopened as scheduled Jan. 5, with an invitation to parents to stay on campus throughout the school day for extra security.

Late afternoon Monday, Principal Dana Bailey wrote in an electronic bulletin that the first day back was successful other than a traffic jam in the parking lot.

“For Tuesday and beyond, we will continue to have the teachers habitually check the classrooms for things that are amiss,” Bailey wrote. “We can also expect an increased police presence, and very specifically a uniformed officer for the start of school (Tuesday).”

Bailey requested parents to forward any tips or items of interest to her.

Notably, Bailey shared that the first two lines of the letter came from the novel “The Mark of Athena,” in the popular Heroes of Olympus young adult series by Rick Riordan. In the bulletin, she did not share the specific lines from the book. However, an informational meeting for parents had been held before school. The Reporter emailed Bailey Monday afternoon to request the lines borrowed from the novel, but did not receive a response by Tuesday afternoon. The Reporter called the school Tuesday and is awaiting a callback for the print edition of this story.

Bailey also wrote that the font used in the letter was Harlow solid italics, set in bold and at 14-point size. She provided instructions for how to find if the font is recently used (presumably in Microsoft Word, based on the specifics provided):

“Open a word [sic] document, click on the font drop down arrow and look for ‘recently used fonts,'” she wrote. “Another way to check home computers is to open up a blank word document, and click the ‘open’ folders and/or documents. This will give you a list of all word documents that are recently saved.”

She immediately added that the case would involve four felony charges — one for each staff member threatened.