Sara Peters has two children in Pulaski Elementary school. When school closed unexpectedly, she did her best not to show her kids how frightened she felt.
“I simply had to tell my 6-year-old that somebody had made a not so nice comment and that the schools were taking it seriously enough to close them down for the day,” Peters said.
A threatening post had circulated on social media among middle school students in the county.
Police and school administrators investigated and linked it to a post that originated outside the area. When they determined it wasn’t a credible threat, schools reopened.
The next week, another threat appeared and Pulaski schools closed again. The same thing has been happening in communities across Virginia, and the country.
Monica Rybitski also has children at Pulaski elementary, aged 4 and 7. When it comes to prepping them for the possibility of school violence, she feels unprepared.
“I have felt a little bit powerless in some ways because having that conversation with the kids is difficult. I’m not really sure how to navigate it,” Rybitski said.
Right now, neither of her kids have phones or social media accounts, and she plans on keeping it that way as long as possible. She knows as they get older, they’ll need to have important conversations around social media, and school threats. She says she’d like more resources on how to talk with her kids about these issues, without scaring them.
Several parents, including Peters, told Radio IQ they also don’t have clear directions about where to report a threat, if they see it online.
“I personally don’t have any information on who to call, where to send it to,” Peters said. As a parent, I would like that informed information on if I see something on social media, where do I send it to?”
Virginia’s Department of Criminal Justice Services says all threats should be reported to 9-1-1 immediately, as well as school administrators. Many divisions, including Pulaski, also have forms on their website to report a threat.
Phillip Mongan is a professor of social work at Radford University and has researched school shootings and how they can be prevented. He said parents and students don’t always understand the best way to report a threat.
“In my experience, no. I mean, of course most everybody knows, call the cops. But I don’t know if everybody’s aware who to contact at the school,” Mongan said.
This ambiguity may be part of the reason so many people begin sharing a post online. But this can cause a contagion effect, said John Brummette, a communications professor at Radford, who’s researching how these threats get shared.
“This really contributes to the issue,” Brummette said. “And gives the people who are posting the content what they want, and that’s for this content to go viral.”
Brummette is working with Radford students on a study, analyzing data from social media and using the university’s SMART Lab technology to learn more about these viral posts. He said some of the posts start as challenges or dares.
But social media might have one bright spot. Mongan said students could be more likely to signal their intention before carrying out a violent act. “Because one thing we know about school shootings and extreme school violence is there’s always what we call leakage,” Mongan said.
“The students will always drop a hint. They’ll say something, they’ll do something, that after the fact, we always go back and go, oh it should have made sense to us. Since social media came about, it’s given this free range to do that,” Mongan said.
He said the negative side is students may use social media to get attention. He said teaching students how to identify and report threats is one of the best ways to prevent school shootings.
According to Virginia’s DCJS, which oversees school safety, last year, 3% of possible school threats were identified because administrators or law enforcement noticed a post on social media.
Far more often, 40% of the time, threats were identified by students, who reported it to a school administrator or police.
Recently, Pulaski County teachers met with students, to talk about how to report a threat, according to superintendent Rob Graham.
“Don’t share it at all on social media,” Graham has been explaining to students. “Don’t share it with your friends, don’t share it with students. It needs to be reported to an adult.”
The school division suspended several students who shared threatening posts on social media and Graham said they could face expulsion.
