By Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix
Amid a spate of school shooting threats less than a month into a new school year, Florida school districts are reminding students and communities of the danger and potential long-term consequences of making even hoax threats.
Violent threats against schools have been reported in districts around Florida including in Seminole, Broward, Duval, Madison, Leon, Taylor, Levy, Columbia, and Sarasota counties.
The repercussions of making a threat can last a lifetime, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd reminded students this week.
“It’s sad, but do you know what many of these students told us?” Judd asked. “They were just joking. Well, they weren’t laughing when they were put into handcuffs, arrested for serious felony charges. I’m here to tell you that we take all threats of violence very seriously and joking is not an excuse that works.”
“Social media is everywhere. It’s easier than ever to find yourself making careless comments that you will later regret,” Polk Superintendent Fred Heid said.
“Or you might feel pressured to join the latest challenge on social media and cause damage to school or personal property. Unfortunately, you will have set into motion far-ranging consequences. Saying you’re sorry won’t make the issue go away.”
Threats have led to arrests for young Floridians, including an 11-year-old girl who threatened to carry out a school shooting in a social media post Wednesday, according to the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office.
WPTV reported that the school did not enter a lockdown and the threat was not found to be credible. However, the girl will face “severe disciplinary consequences,” Sheriff Keith Pearson said.
Spectrum News reported Wednesday that a Lake Brantley High School student was found with an unloaded gun inside the Seminole County school. The student was taken into custody.
The student acquired the gun by stealing it, Spectrum reported.
The Leon County Sheriff’s Office arrested a 13-year-old on Thursday for having a loaded handgun and a substance that “seemed like cocaine” in his backpack, the Tallahassee Democrat reported. The student is being charged with a felony possession of weapon on school grounds, among other charges of possession of cocaine with intent to sell and possession of a weapon by a minor.
The Democrat reported this as the fifth instance of weapons on school grounds in the county.
Since Aug. 1, nine people have been arrested in Duval County for making school threats, according to Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
Duval County Schools Superintendent Christopher Bernier called upon parents warn their children against rash or joking threats.
“Parents, we need you to have a difficult conversation with your children. There are certain things you should never say in an airport as you approach security.” Bernier said during a news conference Wednesday with the Sheriff’s Office.
“Similarly, you should never write or state a threat to harm a school, student, or a person in our community. If that happens, this community will use every tool it has to address it.”
Two 14-year-old students were arrested this week for making threats toward North Port High School in the Sarasota School District.
District Superintendent Terry Connor made a statement Thursday to address the rise in social media threats.
“These events disrupt the learning environment,” Connor said in a video uploaded to YouTube. “They waste valuable resources and create unnecessary fear and anxiety. We will not tolerate this behavior in our schools.”
Effects of Parkland
The Broward County School District emphasized that school threats are not a joke, adding that officials will prosecute those who make them.
“It’s a crime when you make a threat to our school. It is definitely not a joke,” Broward County Schools Superintendent Howard Hepburn said in a video for the school community.
Broward, site of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 in 2018, has arrested nine students for making online threats, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported Wednesday. The oldest age of those threatening was 15, the youngest 11.
“We plan to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law for any issues of threat in our schools, be it in person or online,” Hepburn said. “These threats are not a joke, and I want the parents and also the students to understand that one bad decision can ruin or change a young person’s trajectory for the rest of their life.”
“School threats are not a joke,” Lori Alhadeff, the mother of a Parkland shooting victim who now chairs the Broward school board, said in the video with Hepburn. “They are dangerous, and they have life-altering consequences.”
Districts and the state government have increased attempts to secure schools against shootings in recent years, including HB 1473. The law passed this year mandates classrooms be locked, as well as “all campus doors,” gates, and other access points when students are present.
Some schools took extensive action during the summer to comply with the new law. Officials on the state school safety commission expressed that legislative clarification may be needed for the new law. During a July meeting of the commission, Judd expressed that his staff was “having a really hard time” interpreting the demands of the law.
“Just give me something to explain what all campus access doors means, because I can’t physically keep them locked and I don’t want to violate the rules, so we need help with some definitions,” Judd said, emphasizing the importance of school safety but the technical challenges the law presents.
