Dozens of violent social media threats against several North Texas school districts this week prompted some districts to cancel classes, and others — like Dallas ISD, which serves a total of 143,430 students — were forced to change their football schedules.
The “hoax” social media threats affected Fort Worth ISD, Arlington ISD, DeSoto ISD, Irving ISD, Waxahachie ISD, and Kemp ISD, according to NBC 5.
Districts have reminded the public that even making “hoax” threats is a serious crime. Other districts, like Desoto ISD, had more concerning threats. A 16-year-old student was arrested Tuesday after police received reports that they had a firearm. That same day, officials rescheduled a tennis match and canceled some high school football games altogether.
The next day, Dallas ISD followed suit, announcing stadium location changes for their football games and moving one game to Saturday morning.
Dallas ISD posted the changes on X with a statement: “While no threats have been confirmed, we take these claims seriously and are working with Dallas ISD police to investigate each threat. We will continue to be vigilant.”
So far, at least four people have been arrested in seemingly unrelated incidents. After Ennis ISD received a threat, a person was arrested 480 miles away in Edinburg. Meanwhile, Farmers Branch police arrested a 37-year-old man over alleged threats to a Catholic school and police detained a 15-year-old in Royse City on a possible terroristic threat charge, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Local law enforcement say they’re taking precautions, no matter how small the threats appear to be. Duncanville’s school police chief said the threats are all “basically copy and paste at this point.”
School security expert Craig Miller said there are a number of reasons why the threats are increasing, including the anniversary of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, according to NBC 5.
“We’re working in a time today where there’s a lot of things going on in young people’s lives. A lot of emotional issues are taking place, and a lot of kids making outcries. We just don’t have enough people to help them, so it’s really incumbent upon law enforcement and school administration to make very tough decisions,” Miller said.
Read more at The Dallas Morning News.
