Editor’s note: This Associated Press member exchange feature was shared by the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.
SIOUX FALLS (AP) – Sioux Falls Superintendent Brian Maher learned that a young girl from his district threatened to shoot up her school via social media minutes before a mid-September school board meeting.
It was more than two hours before parents would find out more information.
The threat was the district’s third in a month, with two others occurring the first week of school. And it added to the number of threats Maher has had to take some sort of action on since he started in Sioux Falls three years ago.
“Immediately, there’s always a jolt (of panic),” Maher said. “And then you go into the routine – and I’m not meaning to sound dismissive here – of determining the credibility of the threat, the potential safety issue you’re dealing with to make the best decision possible.”
Ultimately, the student was arrested and charged with making a terroristic threat, a felony, the Argus Leader reported.
But the situation could have gone a different direction, like other threats before it, causing a school to be locked down, heightened security to be present, or as in the case of a threat to the Brookings School District recently, closed all together for a day.
More threats
The number of school threats has risen for the last four years. And officials have said they’re hearing about more public school districts opting to close or cancel school more often, though the state Department of Education does not track that information.
“Anecdotally, it seems that we are hearing about threats and closures more frequently than we have in the past,” Interim Education Secretary Mary Stadick Smith said.
And except for meeting the minimum number of school days under the law, there are no other requirements for making up potential time lost, leaving South Dakota superintendents balancing reassuring parents, ensuring student safety and avoiding causing a panic.
Argus Leader archives show nearly 30 incidents related to potential threats of school violence in the last four years, from stabbings to “cyber-terrorism.” Most of those instances occurred in 2018, in the months following deadly school shootings in Parkland, Florida, and Santa Fe, Texas. And most also involved a student or juvenile.
When a staff member discovered a threatening note from a student at the Brookings High School recently, Superintendent Klint Willert and the Brookings police chief made the call to cancel classes and all school activities at about 8:45 p.m. the night before.
The broad closure was a first for the district, though no credible threat was found, Willert said at the time.
“This is unique, and this is new,” Willert said at a press conference. “The key takeaway for everyone is we take threats seriously, and we have to take threats seriously because of the nature of school violence across our country today.”
Willert was not ready to talk about what it’s like for him to carry the weight of the decision in the days after the event, but he said he would like to talk about school safety more in-depth eventually.
First assessments
Other superintendents were able to weigh in on when they first had to add “threat assessment” to their job description as an educator.
For Harrisburg Superintendent Jim Holbeck, the culture of fear shifted after two students killed 13 and injured more than 20 others at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado almost 20 years ago, he said.
Now, the words students say in a school hallway may have to be scrutinized, he said. Most recently, the district had to look into a student who told another student, “expect a big surprise tomorrow at school.”
“’A big surprise’ never 20 years ago meant we had to fear somebody was going to get hurt,” Holbeck said. “Now the words put us into an investigative mode. It’s a shame, and it’s sad that that’s what we’re doing.”
Holbeck has been with Harrisburg for 12 years, overseeing the only district in the state to actually experience the terror of a school shooting in four years. The district serves about 5,000 students and is the fastest growing in South Dakota.
In 2015, a student shot the high school principal before another employee tackled the student to the ground to prevent the situation from escalating. The student was charged as an adult for attempted murder.
“Our time and resources could be better spent getting kids an education,” Holbeck said. “But we find ourselves caught in having to make sure we keep kids safe, too. And there’s nothing more important than keeping our kids safe.”
Holbeck and other superintendents said it’s hard to avoid the fear that a threat could become a reality, but doing so is now part of the job.
The trick is taking a proactive approach and getting the public to understand two things: That each situation is unique and not all information can be released immediately, school leaders said.
“You can’t take for granted anything, and yet you don’t want to overreact,” Holbeck said. “We find ourselves in the middle of trying to communicate to parents (during a threat), one: be on the lookout. However, we don’t have proof. And then trying to reassure people there’s no credence in this at all once we find out the facts.”
Sometimes, informing the public with what information he can puts people at ease. Other times, it makes them distrust the word of officials more when nothing credible is found, Holbeck said.
When Brookings closed, Baltic Superintendent Bob Sittig sent an email reassuring parents steps were being taken to ensure students were safe.
“Unfortunately, threats or actual instances of violence in schools are all too common across the United States,” the email started. “We South Dakotans often think it will not happen here, but there was a school shooting in Harrisburg two years ago, and Brookings, S.D. schools are closed today due to a threat of violence.”
The email included a seven-point list about what the district was doing, including an assembly for all sixth through 12th grade students about safety procedures and a reading of the book, “I’m Not Scared, I’m Prepared,” to elementary students.
The district serves about 500 students and has only experienced one school threat in the last decade, Sittig said recently. But when instances like the one in Brookings come up, he can’t avoid thinking about how things might be handled with his own community, Sittig said.
“It’s a sad commentary on where we’re at right now that we have to do those kinds of things for young kids like that, and that’s a very fine line,” Sittig said. “It’s all about preparing them, so that if the worst happens they can act appropriately – so they can keep themselves and everybody else safe.”
How much to share?
In Sioux Falls, the struggle often lies in what information can and can’t be shared with the public, either out of fear of a copycat scenario, possibly glorifying the situation or a legitimate safety or legal issue, Maher said.
“What is the right amount of information I give?” Maher said. “There are certain times I’m intentionally vague, and I don’t like that. I’d rather be real, real clear.”
The answer to preventing more school threats is even more unclear.
“I think we wrestle with that in every school and every state,” Maher said. “Certainly, I think discipline is part of that. A loving culture is part of that. Doing what we can to help kids self-regulate is part of that. It’s a very complex issue that doesn’t have a simple answer.”
For Holbeck, the issue comes down to whether students understand the ramifications of something they see as funny or an avenue for attention and how the issue is portrayed in the media, he said.
But he’s cautious of saying more, for fear of giving someone the potential power to terrorize others.
“In the case of calling off school, you have now turned – in our case 4,900 kids and their parents – against you for disrupting their work day, their schedules or whatever,” Holbeck said. “I’m careful in how I say that, because there are people in this country where that is their desire. They want to be the person who shoots so many people.”
Bad attention is still attention, Holbeck said. How superintendents and media outlets balance the information that comes out during a school threat matters, he said.
Asked whether Holbeck still thinks about the moment he was notified about the shooting in 2015, he only spoke generally.
“We have a system for how we can communicate if there’s a threat in our school or if there is a crisis,” Holbeck said. “We have that notification, and our staff is aware of how that works. We can communicate quite fast, both within our school and to personnel quickly. That day, all of that worked very well.”
