Increase in school shooting hoaxes roil educators

Carrying out a serious investigation with knowledge that such threats are so often unfounded presents frustrations and challenges for officials seeking to keep a focus on the day’s lessons.

“These kinds of threats are happening more than we’ve seen in the past,” said Kevin Skelly, superintendent of the San Mateo Union High School District. “But … the threat levels to me are almost level 1. Very low and don’t feel credible. We haven’t seen one this year that I feel is credible.”

The faux threats — whether issued online, over the phone or scrawled on a bathroom wall — are especially vexing because they can derail an otherwise productive school day, he said.

Responses can range in severity from sheltering in place to campus lockdowns and evacuations, depending on perceived validity. Such interruptions can draw the focus of administrators, teachers and students from the classroom.

“It does take away from the instructional energy of the organization when you are dealing with these,” said Skelly.

What’s worse, he noted, is they play on the rising fears regarding school safety, which run counter to the reality that today’s campuses are more secure than ever for students.

“Schools are safer and better places for kids, but you wouldn’t know if you looked at these kinds of threats,” said Skelly.

Over the past few months, a handful of invalid violent threats have been issued anonymously in the San Mateo and Sequoia union high school districts, as well as the South San Francisco Unified School District.

Despite the developing trend, officials in each district expressed a commitment to examining each claim, as their concern for student safety is paramount.

“Every day, our teachers and staff work diligently to ensure that our school sites are a safe learning environment for our students,” Mary Streshly, Sequoia Union High School District superintendent, said in an email. “The recent spike in gun threats has strengthened our relationship with local law enforcement, as their leadership on these issues is a critical component to our safety protocols.”

Last week, Menlo-Atherton High School was locked down following a student posting on social media a picture with a gun.

Over the same window of time, two fake threats were issued online to South San Francisco schools. Following an investigation, the threats were part of a hoax believed to be spread by a Swiss cyber group targeting schools across the Bay Area.

Ryan Sebers, spokesman for the South San Francisco Unified School District, said the incident will not deter officials from seriously examining each incident potentially exposing students to danger.

“Although we experienced two false threats last week, and numerous other schools and districts across the nation have had similar experiences with these anonymous online messages, we will continue to follow our established protocol and strive to keep our community informed and our students and staff safe,” he said in an email.

The anonymous and often virtual method of making these threats heightens the challenges for officials needing to investigate them, said Skelly, creating almost a perfect storm for someone seeking to disrupt a school.

“You’ve got increasing fear among young people, and ease of making threats, and the difficulty of getting caught. All those things add up to we are going to deal with more of them, I’d imagine,” he said.

As a result, Skelly said officials have established an efficient protocol with local law enforcement and school security officials to gauge the validity of each report.

And to deter students from pulling the hoaxes, Skelly said those caught may face paying the reimbursement cost for the response of police and firefighters investigating a potential school shooter.

Also, while the nature of the threats are more severe than in the past when students would pull a fire alarm to get out of class, Skelly said examinations of these incidents must keep an eye to adolescents’ age-old taste for mischief.

“There are still kids that don’t like to take exams and they don’t like to go to school, so if they are doing these, there is that incentive,” he said.

But such recognition does not go far in tamping down the irritation of officials whose primary focus is offering students a quality education, noted Skelly.

“There’s not anybody on our staff who likes doing this more than what they should be doing, which is helping kids learn and grow,” he said.

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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