SCS Families & Partners –

Despite continued reports by local news and rumors on social media over the past week regarding potential threats to schools, law enforcement has assured us there have been NO credible threats made against any of our schools. We know the tragic incident in Florida last week has caused much concern. Unfortunately, a number of schools have had to deal with false threats since then, which have been a major distraction. Our schools have done a great job communicating with families, but even false threats cause unnecessary fear and take the focus off learning. Safety is our top priority, so we cannot and will not take anything that can be considered a possible threat lightly. We report every incident to law enforcement, and making threats – even as a joke – can lead to suspension and potential criminal charges. We have safety measures in place and many counseling and support options for our students. Still, we need parents to help echo our message to students at home – that there are very serious consequences for making threats. Additionally, the more attention given to false threats only leads to more copycat behavior and compounds the issue, so we hope our local media partners might also choose to focus on situations deemed by law enforcement as being credible. As a school system, our first priority will always be to communicate directly with families. If law enforcement does not deem a situation to be credible, we may choose not to add more attention by contributing to media reports. However, if we know of any situation causing concerns about safety in one of our schools - true or not - we will always share as many facts as possible directly with families.