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SIOUX CITY — Six Sioux City students have been charged with harassment in connection with various social media threats against the schools on Friday.
None of the threats were legitimate but were intended to cause alarm among the students, according to a press release from the Sioux City Police Department.
In response, additional police officers patrolled the schools on Friday and many parents chose to keep their children home for the day.
On Thursday, the Sioux City district alerted parents of a national school threat made on social media that said school shootings and bomb threats would occur in schools across the nation on Friday. The alert also asked parents and students to report concerning posts.
Since the notification, Sioux City police started receiving reports of other threats against the schools.
A few of the threats included:
– A subject telling several people he was planning on bringing a gun to school;
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– A conversation in which a student was implying threats against East Middle;
– A post depicting a gun with a threat towards North Middle and;
– A video on TikTok of several students at East High School pointing their phones like guns.
Six students were charged with harassment and the district has taken steps to keep these students out of the school until the investigations are completed, according to the release.
“Appropriate discipline measures will also be taken by the schools that could include suspension and expulsion,” according to the release.
For fear of the threats, some parents chose to keep their kids home from school for the day. District director of communications Leslie Heying said absences across the district were considerably higher than normal.
“We do contribute this, in large part, to these social media threats, she said.
“It is very unfortunate how social media has negatively impacted our District this week including the feeling of safety among our students and staff and, ultimately, the education of our students.”
Additional evidence into the threats will be acquired from the social media platforms through legal processes and additional charges may occur.
These are not the first social media threats to be investigated this week.
On Tuesday, East High and East Middle schools were put on lockdown due to a social media threat on another popular social media platform Snapchat.
A 14-year-old female was arrested after creating the post with the intent to cause alarm but had no plan for carrying out the threat.
At the same time, a 15-year-old male was identified as creating a threat towards West High School.
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