School threats are serious matter

Recent scare in Jonesboro shines light on ever-present danger facing teachers, students

By Nena Zimmer

Paxton News Services

JONESBORO — Youth don’t always think about the consequences of their actions, but schools and law enforcement officials take terroristic threatening very seriously.

After recent incidents of possible threats over social media, some local schools were forced to take various actions to insure the safety of their students and staff.

Both Nettleton High and Junior High Schools on Jan. 27 and Westside Consolidated School District on Jan 30 reported on Facebook about incidents of threats made via social media platforms towards their school districts.

Combined effects of the schools and law enforcement officials led to both situations being resolved quickly.

Westside Supt. Scott Gauntt said on Tuesday that they implemented a soft lockdown as a precaution during last week’s incident.

However, he stated it turned out that the student who had posted the threat wasn’t even from Westside, in fact the student responsible had actually found a threat made toward a Westside High School in Florida and reposted it.

“It wasn’t even our student, school or even our state,” he stated, noting that he had spoken with the superintendent of one of the other two Westside High Schools in Arkansas that had had the same type of incident that had been a result of the Florida post.

“This has been going on for over 30 years,” Gauntt said, recalling incidents from when he was younger as well.

“Kids used to pull fire alarms and write terrible things on bathroom walls, now they are posting on social media,” he said, “Every threat that we get is taken as a high priority with all seriousness,” he said as explained some of the procedures such as hard and soft lockdowns.

According to Gauntt, during a hard lockdown, doors are locked and students and staff are kept in place with no one in or out, while during a soft lock down the doors are locked and monitored and students remain indoors, but classes continue as usual.

“We feel very fortunate to have armed SROs on all our campuses,” he said, “and we were able to utilize this incident as great training to make sure we are doing the best we can.”

“We need to make sure as parents that we make kids understand the ramifications of the actions because actions have consequences,” Gauntt said.

Although Brookland School was not one of the districts with a reported incident, Brookland School District Superintendent Brett Bunch helped to explained on Monday a little bit more on how schools deal with terroristic threatening.

According to Bunch, terroristic threatening, whether it is through text, email, written or verbal, is taken it seriously.

“Once a threat has been reported or identified we take immediate action through investigation,” he explained.

Bunch said that it depends on the form of the threat whether outside organizations may be brought in to assist in the investigation and mitigation of the issue.

“The first key is to track the threat and take action on that threat and person or persons involved,” Bunch said. “Our process allows for quick and immediate actions to take place to safeguard our students and staff.”

He also stated that a viable terroristic threat may result in the expulsion of that student or students and a report to the local prosecutor’s office for further legal action on their part.

“Students seem to not understand that the extent of comments made by them in person or through some other form can have a negative impact on their lives and futures,” Bunch said.

“I think these issues are cyclical in nature, meaning this year’s numbers may be a little higher than last but next year may be lower,” he explained. “Some of this follows what is happening on a national level and is also generated from outside the state and even outside the country.”

Jonesboro Police Chief Rick Elliott said on Tuesday that the consequences depend on the age and the seriousness of the threat, but most end up in juvenile court or worse as some could be charged as an adult.

He said that the penalties vary from counseling to

See THREAT, page A16 THREAT

From page A2

lock-up.

“We see it every year,” Elliot said, noting that it is normally around the end of the school year that they start seeing an up-tick in reports.

Craighead County Juvenile Supervisor Amy Powell agrees penalties vary, however she noted all cases carry the possibility for the maximum sentencing, which for misdemeanor offenses could include up to 90 days in the Craighead County Juvenile Detention Center, up to 160 hours of community service and up to a $500 fine; and for felony offenses could include a stay until the offender’s 21st birthday at the Division of Youth Services (DYS).

According to the Arkansas Department of Human Services website the DYS provides effective prevention, intervention and treatment programs for youth involved in the Arkansas juvenile justice system.

Powell said that, while they try not to put a juvenile in the legal system unless they have to, they have to use risk assessment to determine what punishment is necessary.

Powell said they make recommendations to the deputy prosecutor based on state law; however, the deputy prosecutor has the final say, and the judge will then have the very final say.

She noted Arkansas Code § 5-13-301, which refers to terroristic threatening, and Arkansas Code § 5-13-302, which refers to threatening to commit an act of mass violence on school property, are important in determining the severity of the crime.

According to the FindLaw website, Arkansas Code § 5-13-301 on terroristic threatening states that: Terroristic threatening in the second degree is a Class A misdemeanor and is committed when a person threatens to cause physical injury or property damage to another person; which Powell said an example would be if someone threatened to beat someone else up.

Terroristic threatening in the first degree is a Class D felony and is committed when a person threatens to cause death or serious physical injury or substantial property damage to another person;?or to cause physical injury or property damage to a teacher or other school employee acting in the line of duty; which Powell said an example of this would be if someone threatened to kill someone with a deadly weapon, such as a gun.

According to the FindLaw website, Arkansas Code § 5-13-302 on threatening to commit an act of mass violence on school property, which is a Class C felony, states that: “A person commits the offense of threatening to commit an act of mass violence on school property if the person knowingly threatens to commit an act of mass violence on school property or at a curricular or extracurricular activity sponsored by a school by any means of communication; and places a person or group of persons in a position to reasonably fear for their safety.”

“A threat to commit an act of mass violence would most likely land the juvenile in the detention center,” Powell said.

Powell the stated that Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tiarra Tanner is “no nonsense when it comes to school violence.”

“She really does a wonderful job, but she’s a bulldog when it comes to school violence,” Powell stated.

“She is very stern and will not tolerate anything of that nature.”