Charleston school district handling school violence

CHARLESTON Mo. (KBSI) – “That’s probably somebody’s sports bag that is not clear so it cannot come into the school.”

Clear backpacks are one element making students in Charleston feel safer.

The backpacks were already mandated to help increase security well before the bogus online posts threatened to halt school this week.

“I heard that they said something about a list and that we were on it, so I kept hearing about it.”

Cory Spence is a freshman at Charleston High School. He says he knows school leaders and law enforcement are there to protect him and he feels safe.

He says he didn’t know anything about the online issues until the school made him aware.

“I haven’t seen any weapons. We go through metal detectors as soon as we go into the building so I don’t know how they would sneak one in either way, but I am not too worried about it though as long as I have God with me, I’m alright.”

Jamarcus Williams is the superintendent for Charleston School District. 

Williams posted online saying the threat appeared to be an attempt to get school canceled and that the threat is unsubstantiated.

“Unfortunately, this is something we have to deal with in today’s society however there haven’t been direct threats of someone coming directly to our school district. We were included in a post that included our school district, so we wanted to be proactive.”

Williams says the threat is just coming from online and not inside the school.

He is confident in the security that they have and also things like metal detectors and those clear backpacks.

Any bags with sports equipment or bags which you cannot see what is inside must stay outside the walls of school.

“There were some weapons on the table, and it said be ready and I think it listed like Sikeston, Charleston, New Madrid but it was misspelled and EP which is East Prairie, but their title is not spelled out at least we believe it was probably a younger kid, but it doesn’t matter who’s a potential threat.”

Williams says he believes the social media threat may have come from a younger student. He wants students, parents, and teachers to know all threats are taken seriously. 

Williams is saying school safety is not a laughing matter and they will do whatever it takes to keep your kids safe.