The Lawrence school district says there was no credible threat to Southwest Middle School after a student allegedly said they had a gun on campus Wednesday.
District spokesperson Julie Boyle said Thursday that SWMS received a report Wednesday that a student had said they had a gun at school.
Administrators and the school resource officer conducted an investigation, including speaking with students and their families, and determined there was no gun at the school and no credible threat of harm, Boyle said.
“We appreciate students and families continuing to report any safety concerns to their school, so we may immediately investigate them,” Boyle said via email. “Student and staff safety is our first priority.”
The Lawrence school district, along with districts nationwide, is dealing with a surge in threats of gun violence toward schools, most allegedly made by students. Lawrence police and school officials said they’ve investigated alleged threats mostly found on social media and that they believe students are desensitized to violence.
They’ve encouraged the community to report all threats of violence promptly.
SWMS Principal Carissa Miles and Assistant Principal Jason Kingman sent an email to notify families of the incident at 11:30 a.m. Thursday after we reached out to the district.
This publication learned of this incident from a reader tip. If you’d like to help us keep tabs on what’s going on in the district, please consider joining our community network.
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Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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