Threats to high schools in America have grown significantly in recent years, and Kane County school districts have not been immune. After a wave of threats hit nearby schools in early September, local administrators are continuing to deal with a variety of situations.
The increase in threats could relate to the amount of school shootings that have happened across the country, as copycat threats generally follow shootings that get a lot of recognition in national news. After the Sept. 4 shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, GA, there was an influx of threats against schools. The neighboring St. Charles School district was one to receive recent threats.
“School districts across the country, including ours, faced multiple safety threats, mostly from online activity, that caused fear and confusion among our students, families and staff,” wrote Paul Gordon, the Superintendent of St. Charles Community Unit School District 303, in a staff newsletter.
According to Kaneland High School Principal Melinda Cattell, KHS has been lucky to have not received these kinds of online threats.
“We have not had any of the social media stuff,” Cattell said.
Not all threats are acted on, but even a fake threat can cause problems within schools. With gun violence being an ongoing concern, schools have to take every threat seriously.
Administrators and local police need to prepare just in case any threats that schools are alerted to are real. An anonymous tip line is a tool used by many districts for students to report concerns without fear of retribution from the person issuing threats.
“If someone comes across a threat or something that they heard, they can email or use the tip line,” Kaneland’s Dean of Students Noe Escamilla said. “They can come directly to our office and tell me, a counselor or any other adult. They would act upon it and either connect to me or our own Deputy Officer Eric Perkins that’s in the building.”
After a report from a student, action is taken by the school to reassure the safety of the students. The Dean of Students, police officers and other relevant personnel are involved in determining the appropriate course of action after they receive a report from someone. Whether a threat is conveyed anonymously or directly, school officials must be prepared to act and follow their established procedures.
“We would do an assessment verifying the source to see if it’s credible or not,” Escamilla said. “That’s where law enforcement gets involved with those threats. Sometimes if threats come to us from a different agency outside of our county, we again take precautions to verify if it is credible or not. Then, there are all the signs we have in our classrooms of either lockdown or shelter in place for that moment until we figure out if it’s an imminent threat.”
Across the country, schools are dealing with these threats.
“I don’t think any school district is immune from social media,” said St. Charles North High School Principal Shanna Lewis.
