Desensitization to violence and social media usage among youth are contributing to an influx of alleged gun threats aimed at Lawrence schools, according to the school district and police.
School shootings continue to afflict communities — the most recent to capture national attention occurring at a Georgia high school on Sept. 4 and resulted in four deaths.
Laura McCabe, a spokesperson for the Lawrence Police Department, said the department is maintaining long-standing relationships with FBI task force partners, Lawrence Public Schools administrators, the National School Resource Officer Association, and additional agencies to keep students and staff safe.
“It’s certainly been a difficult start to the school year for our School Resource Officers who have seen an increase in threats and rumors containing threats of school violence,” McCabe said via email. “Anecdotally, I can tell you I’ve talked with officers who have said their students tell them they have become desensitized to violence or that they don’t think what they say is serious or they meant it as a joke.”
Officers respond by telling students about the severity, and each alleged threat is investigated. At least one SRO has held an all-school assembly about the issue, McCabe said. The department has dealt mostly with verbal threats that were allegedly overheard, she said. Police also investigated online and social media messages and posts, but those can move through multiple channels of communication.
McCabe said “at least two” affidavits, both involving Lawrence middle schoolers, have been submitted to the district attorney’s office for charging consideration so far this year.
“It is hard to quantify the number of threats because it may be multiple discussions of the same internet threat circulating and some are new verbal threats made by students, so I am not sure I can put a number on it,” McCabe said via email.
Liberty Memorial Central Middle School staff emailed families last month, asking them to have a conversation with their students over the weekend. The Wednesday prior, police investigated a student’s report that another student allegedly threatened gun violence toward the school. That threat was deemed not credible.
LMCMS staff’s request is consistent across the entire district, according to Lawrence school district spokesperson Julie Boyle.
“When families send their children to Lawrence Public Schools, we become partners in their children’s educational journey,” Boyle said via email. “We know that children’s safety is the highest shared priority of this partnership.”
After a Billy Mills Middle School student allegedly made a threat toward his school on Aug. 27, Lawrence police that day determined there was no credibility to it.
Lawrence High School families became concerned the morning of Sept. 17 after learning of a social media post warning “LHS” of violence. The threat was ultimately found to be made toward Leavenworth High School, and a teen from Fort Leavenworth was apprehended by military police in connection. The Leavenworth County attorney’s office announced the next day that the teen would be charged with aggravated criminal threat.
Boyle said she had assisted six individual schools in September with communication to families about non-credible threats. She said students are reporting to their schools that they’re seeing threats and rumors of threats on social media.
“We know that social media, at its worst, can expose students to other violent and sexual content and cyberbullying and harassment,” Boyle said via email. “We encourage families to set expectations and limitations for their children’s use of social media as well as supervise their safety when participating in online activities.”
The rest of Douglas County is having to remain vigilant, as well.
Baldwin City police determined there was no credible threat to Baldwin Junior High School when the FBI was alerted to a potential threat to the school on Aug. 15. And the Eudora Police Department on Sept. 19 made a post to its Facebook page, updating the community about a school shooting rumor circulating on social media.
Lawrence school board members and Interim Superintendent Jeanice Swift decided to take time during their meeting on Sept. 9 to address school safety. Board President Kelly Jones called upon the Kansas Legislature to pass sensible gun laws — and to “ stop making us ask.”
Boyle said she’s part of a statewide and a nationwide network of public school communications personnel. Although they are more focused on communication over causes, her colleagues in Kansas and other states also report an increase in threats and rumors of threats that are mostly involving social media, she said.
“When we face challenges, such as this increase in threats and rumors, we inform our school families and ask for their assistance in working toward solutions,” Boyle said via email. “As our schools have received reports and conducted investigations, we have asked our school families to assist us by talking to their children about the seriousness of this behavior and the importance of continuing to report safety concerns to our schools.”
As the district is approaching the end of its first quarter, Oct. 10, a report to the board this month could reveal more insight into disciplinary responses, Boyle said. The district’s teaching and learning team provides student behavior data to the school board as part of quarterly equity updates.
LPD Chief Rich Lockhart and Swift have collaborated on a message. In a video together, posted on the school district’s YouTube channel, Lockhart implores students to “report, not repost.” Criminal threat charges can be felonies, and at the school level, they can result in suspensions or expulsions.
“It’s always the goal of our SRO’s to educate and mentor students to keep them out of the legal system when they can,” McCabe said via email.
Baldwin City police did not respond to questions for this article by publication time.
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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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