Social media threats targeting Henrico schools prompt extra security measures

Several non-credible social media threats targeting Virginia schools have appeared during the past two weeks, following the Nov. 30 shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan that left four dead.

Last week, a social media post encouraging students to participate in a campus disruption prompted the principal of Wilder Middle School in Henrico to put extra precautions in place. Teachers and staff were instructed to monitor transitions, structure bathroom breaks and escort students to lunch.

“My administrators and counselors are doing their very best to investigate any possible threats to student safety and student well-being,” Principal Erica Broudy wrote in an email to families. “Parents, we need your help. Please speak with your child(ren) and share your expectations for their behavior.  Your child deserves a quality education, and our teachers want to provide this in a safe and secure environment.”

The week prior, rumors mentioning violence at Tucker High School spread around social media. Extra police officers monitored the high school “out of an abundance of caution,” according to an email from Principal Art Raymond.

“Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for school divisions to see social media posts or rumors mentioning school violence following a tragedy such as the Detroit school shooting,” said Henrico County Public Schools spokeswoman Eileen Cox. “HCPS has a strong partnership with the Henrico Police, and we all take any mention of violence at our schools very seriously. With the support of our school administrators, police usually get to the source of the post or rumor very quickly.”

The recent non-credible threats involving schools in Henrico as well as other divisions across the commonwealth began to appear days after the Oxford High School shooting.

“There's a contagion effect that we know about in terms of suicides, shootings, bad things happening, and people copycat what they see,” said Jeff Temple, a professor and psychologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch who studies adolescent violence. “Coupled with the really real adolescent mental health crisis caused by COVID and everything else, we're seeing more and more of this.”

Two unrelated social media threats involving Varina High School and Highland Springs High School occurred in September.

The student who posted a photo of  guns mentioning Varina High was handled by law enforcement and ultimately went through court diversion, which was successful, according to police. The threat was deemed non-credible because the juvenile had no known weapons to carry out the threat, police said at the time.

Following the Highland Springs High threat, Henrico School Board member Alicia Atkins suggested building a committee that would assist with the impact of social media on children’s health. No such committee has been formed at this time, according to School Board Chair Roscoe Cooper III, but "there are conversations in place now about embedding... social media awareness policies," he said.

Before 13-year-old Lucia Bremer was shot and killed on March 26, the suspect had posted a video on social media depicting a school shooting with an accompanying caption about committing a school shooting, according to Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor. Law enforcement officials weren't aware of the post until after Bremer was killed, according to Taylor.

Anyone who communicates a threat in writing, including on social media, to kill or do bodily harm on K-12 school grounds can be charged a class 6 felony, according to Virginia law.

“Even when a person posts to social media as a joke, the consequences are severe,” Cox said. “The result is most often criminal charges and discipline at the school.”

The HCPS Student Code of Conduct includes a range of consequences for threatening violence up to a recommendation for expulsion.

“Kids are especially distressed, they're anxious, they're depressed, and those are going to increase the likelihood of misbehaving,” Temple said. “Coupled with that is we have a shortage of teachers and school counselors, who are not only short staffed, but they're fatigued and they're tired, and there's just not enough time in the day to respond to all these kids.

"You're going to have more kids fall through the cracks, and they're going to be the ones that are making these threats.”

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Anna Bryson is the Henrico Citizen's education reporter and a Report for America corps member. Make a tax-deductible donation to support her work, and RFA will match it dollar for dollar.