The number of schools receiving anonymous threats is on the rise, but there are some steps districts can take to reduce the likelihood of being targeted by hoax bomb and shooting threats.
Threatening messages sent via phone or email, posted on social media, or left in writing on school property by an unidentified person can cause major disruptions to school operations.
Though nearly always a hoax, all of them must be taken seriously and shared with law enforcement, and can result in school evacuations, lockdowns, a large police response, or the closing of school altogether, said Don Hough, the deputy associate director of the School Safety Task Force at the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Most of the threats—which have “significantly increased” in frequency in the past two years, Hough said—are made by students simply trying to disrupt the school day and get a day off.
It should be seen as a sign that the student “needs greater intervention and support from the community,” he said during a webinar on Nov. 18 hosted by AASA, The School Superintendents Association. The threats could also include “swatting,” a term that refers to filing a false report with the aim of stoking chaos and provoking a large law enforcement response.
Much of the response to threats is out of schools’ hands—that’s up to police. But schools can prepare for them and try to prevent them, Hough said.
The payoff from prevention: fewer disruptions, more positive school culture
It’s no small task and it encompasses several key areas, Hough said, but the payoff could mean less disrupted class time, a more positive school culture, and a greater sense of safety.
To prepare, school leaders need to ensure their communities know when and how to report threats, Hough said. Specifically for threats made on social media, students should be reminded to “report, don’t repost,” he said.
“We all know … these threats can spread like wildfire on social media,” Hough said. “Too often, it’s through the school community before we have a handle on what’s said.”
It’s also important to train staff who are most likely to receive the threats—people who monitor emails to the school, control access to outside doors, and answer phone calls—about how to ask probing questions when on the line with someone making a threat.
If someone phones in a bomb threat, for example, the staff member needs to get as much specific information as possible by asking additional questions, like where the device is, when was it placed, and who is calling. Then the staff member needs to be prepared to repeat the information to law enforcement and school leadership, Hough said.
Schools should host “internet safety nights” or provide handouts to families with information about youth social media use, including what apps are available to children and what they’re used for. Schools should also make it clear what kind of behavior is unacceptable on social media, and that making threats online is “no different than making that threat in person,” Hough said.
“Make it clear that they’re taken seriously, that the process is transparent, and those online threats turn into real-world consequences,” he said.
Threats can be a “cry for help”
Often, when students make threats toward their school, it’s a “cry for help,” Hough said, so districts may be well served by prioritizing investments in mental health supports for students both to prevent potential problems in the future and to ensure schools have the ability to connect students to supportive services if they are identified as making a threat.
Perhaps the most important step schools can take now, before they are targeted with an anonymous threat, is to establish positive and collaborative relationships with local law enforcement, Hough said. It is helpful to establish which agency is responsible for which elements of the response, he said. For example, the police may be responsible for investigating the legitimacy of the threat and identifying who made it, while the school is responsible for communicating with families and for discipline, he said.
“There’s no single right answer in responding to these threats,” Hough said. “But too often schools wait until they’ve received a threat to build relationships. A plan has to be in place before that.”
