Social-media madness has taken the nation by storm. Families from coast-to-coast are on high alert after “National School Shooting And Bomb Threat Day” gets trendy. The big problem is knowing how to tell the difference between real threats and imagined ones. The wrong judgment call sparked a tragedy in Michigan on November 30, so you can’t blame everyone for bouncing to the other extreme. Of course, the slacker kids see it as a perfect way to get out of that scary algebra test.
Families can’t be sure
Since police have been defunded and crime has been decriminalized you can’t blame concerned parents from reacting by keeping their kids home from school.
Families are grappling with a disturbing meme as Christmas break rapidly approaches, a “threat of shootings and/or bombings at nearly every school across the United States.” It’s been “circulating on social media.”
Since police and school officials are powerless to do anything, they urge parents to “be cautious and discuss consequences of threats with their children.”
Families are urged to have a little talk with Karen and Hakeem to tell them that making threats anonymously isn’t as easy as it sounds with today’s forensic digital technology, so don’t try that for an excuse to play hooky.
The whole thing started with one of those “TikTok” videos which started swirling around high school social media circles that proclaims Friday, December 17 “national school shooting and bomb threat day.” What better way to score a long weekend.
“Law enforcement officials stress they have not identified any specific or credible threat.” Families are keeping their kids home from school in droves.
The Glenview Police Department is aware of a threat circulating on social media regarding school shootings and bomb threats at every school in the country on Friday, December 17, 2021. This threat does not specifically list any state or location. There is no credible….1/2 pic.twitter.com/I7cAVncp9b
— GlenviewILPD (@GlenviewILPD) December 16, 2021
Not an alarm
When Albany, New York’s school district Superintendent got word of the trending hashtag, Kaweeda Adams sent a letter around to parents starting out noting the district’s “intent with this communication is not to alarm you, but rather to keep you informed.”
It alarmed the heck out of families across her district. The police know all about it but what can they do about a rumor? Call Ghost Busters?
“This information has been shared with law enforcement agencies at all levels.” The FBI probably knew about it before it started. “Our local authorities have indicated that they have not identified any credible threat to our schools, and that this viral Internet development is not associated with any specific school or school district locally, statewide or nationally.”
That means all schools in any district could be the next columbine. Or not. It’s up to individual families to decide how much risk to take.
Officials are “taking this matter seriously.” They called the cops. “We have taken a proactive approach by communicating with local police and discussing this topic in our safety team meetings.” Terrified families want more cops to defend their schools but there aren’t enough to go around to start with, since they’ve been defunded and all.
“Out of an abundance of caution, the district has requested that law enforcement have a more visible presence at our schools Friday.” While the cops are standing around the schools, feel free to smash and grab up to a couple hundred bucks worth of free goodies, now that California decriminalized shoplifting.
