Safety of children at risk as threats spread in local schools

CAPE GIRARDEAU Mo. (KBSI) – A nationwide issue hits home. Local schools are receiving threats on social media.

Cape Central, Kennett, Vienna, Wes Drury, Sikeston, Scott City, Poplar Bluff, Dexter, Charleston, and Kelly School District are all impacted.

Bradley Kolwyck is the Superintendent for the Kelly School District.

He says since late last week and over the weekend they have seen a trend of social media posts with school threats. 

“My message to them is I went from class to class for the middle school and high school. If you feel any reason that you feel unsafe, reach out to me, let me know, reach out to your counselor. Our district has spent a lot of money to ensure the safety of our students and our staff and our community members.”

Kelly School District has not canceled school at this time as the superintendent believes there is no credible threat to the school.

“Safety protocol is to always encourage students to report if they see anything online. If they have any information leading to a possible threat, let us know and we’re gonna investigate our level of protection. At the end of the day if we find out a student made a comment or a social media post it’s a possibility, we’re going to take it to the fullest extent of consequences.”

Kolwyck has conducted several forms of safety protocol like creating a security system for both the middle school and high school.

Kelly School District has security on exterior glass, door alerts that send a message to the Superintendent when the door is being propped open, and a haven lock system that every teacher has installed on their phone so they can lock down the school from a click away on their phone.

Kelly School District has also been in contact with the Scott County Sheriff’s Department since Friday.

Over the weekend there was a photo on social media that sparked the fear and attention of the students in Kelly School District.

Kolwyck cannot show the pictures posted at this time but ensures that they are being investigated as they are not taking any threat lightly.

As far as the other school districts go the Public Information Officer for Cape County Bobby Newton, says threats like these are not uncommon but there are more and more popping up after the shooting in Georgia.

“Last week we have a national news with the student unfortunately down around the Atlanta area that always triggers other things that come up unfortunately so it’s not uncommon to see these after a major incident like that but again we always follow up on them to make sure you know there’s any credibility to those threats and we did very thorough job of investigating those.”

Newton says police are always keeping an eye on the school zone area and are asking students and parents to stay away from social media and let the police department investigate instead.

“Make sure the students remain safe; you know we have officers there in the parking lot and conducting investigations they may need assistance within the meantime we’re asking that anybody that sees these threads or comes across and make sure they’re reported to law enforcement school officials. It’s not a good idea to share those on social media just because it causes a lot of havoc, so we encourage them instead of sharing it. Make sure they report it.”

Some of these schools are being canceled, some events are not feeling safe to participate in anymore.

Police are investigating to see what threats are credible and where the school districts and police take action from here.

Sikeston Department of Public Safety just released a statement to the parents and on social media of what is going on Sikeston Public Schools.

Sheriff Wes Drury from the Scott County Sheriff’s Office released a statement that they are aware of the threats and for the public to report and not repost them on social media.

Schools remind all social media users to report and not repost.