The Hoquiam School District has reached a “separation agreement” with Robert P. McElliott, the Hoquiam Middle School physical education teacher charged with writing threats against himself on a school gym door in early November.

The agreement, which ends 22 years of employment with the district, was effective immediately after approval by the school board Wednesday morning.

“There was a special board meeting and the separation agreement between McElliott and the district was approved,” said superintendent Mike Villarreal.

McElliott had been on paid administrative leave since Nov. 6, a day after a message reading “Mceliot is a dead mon” was found on the door of the middle school gym.

At his annual salary of $83,187.82, the Hoquiam School District paid McElliott more than $20,000 during his 3 months on paid administrative leave while the teachers’ union and the district worked out a separation agreement. The details of the agreement were not immediately available. The Daily World has submitted a public records request to the school district to obtain a copy of the agreement.

After a police investigation, McElliott was charged criminally in Hoquiam Municipal Court for causing unnecessary emergency response and making a false statement to a public servant. Hoquiam City Attorney Steve Johnson said the misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor charges carry a maximum punishment of 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine, to be determined by the judge at sentencing if he is found guilty.

Hoquiam Police investigated when a middle school custodian, who had been alerted by McElliott, called police to report the threatening message Nov 5.

According to McElliott’s statement to police later that morning, he said he had found a door ajar, propped open with rocks. He said he checked another door and found the threatening message. In his written statement, McElliott documented his steps that morning up to the discovery of the message.

Similar threats had been written at the school in February 2017 and October 2018, according to court documents. Surveillance footage from that morning prompted middle school principal Jason Ihde to call back investigators who, according to charging documents, determined it was McElliott who had written the threat.

“The actions that he (McElliott) described were not consistent with what was shown on the video footage,” according to court documents.