After the recent school shooting that happened at Apalachee High School, many school districts and counties have become more on edge due to the frequency and relative proximity of these occurrences. Students are also becoming more fearful of not only the idea of school shootings but also the idea of going to school and not being able to know what the day may hold for them. There has also been an increase in the amount of school threats within the local area via social media platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and X, formally known as Twitter.
Many students have begun to post themselves, or even weapons, onto social media directly threatening groups of students or the entire school itself. This leaves many school officials concerned, and also many students worrying about the severity of the threats.
Students are informing their parents of the posts on social media, which is causing an uproar between these families and the school system due to them driving to the schools in waves. In response, this leaves parents to decide to pull their children out of school in fear of them becoming victims of the next school shooting.
This has not only become a problem for students and schools but also for local law enforcement having to take each threat at face value to ensure the safety of everyone who may be in danger or involved in the threat. This leads to departments persecuting each other and tormenting others to the fullest extent, which includes pressing charges along with giving them jail time.
President of the Tennessee Sheriff’s Association, Jeff Cassidy, released a statement on the matter saying, “One of the main goals of an Elected Sheriff is to provide quality public safety and ensure citizens feel secure in their surroundings. With the increased volume of school threats being made across the state of Tennessee, we want parents, students, and citizens to know that we will not tolerate anyone making threats and inciting fear within our schools and community. Those responsible will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Making threats of violence against a school is a class E felony offense TCA 38-16-517, which carries life-altering consequences.
We urge parents to monitor what their child is posting on social media platforms and to talk to them about the seriousness of making or even sharing threatening posts. As always, we continue to urge the community to report anything suspicious or potentially threatening in nature toward schools or any public building. We understand the frustration, stress, and fear communities across our state are dealing with, and we will continue to investigate every threat received in an effort to ensure the safety of our schools and all.”
