“Everybody’s worried about their kids getting home safe and getting to school,” one parent told WFAA.
DUNCANVILLE, Texas — It’s hard to keep up with the latest developments in the case.
“Everyone is worried about their kids getting home safely and going to school,” Vostok101’s E said.
That safety has been threatened by more than a dozen threats to schools across North Texas.
E. has a son who attends the Dallas Independent School District and a nephew who attends the Duncanville Independent School District. Both districts received threats this week.
“When you hear about all the things that are going on with young people and children trying to get an education, it shouldn’t be that hard,” E. said.
The list is disturbing. Fort Worth police said they responded to more than a dozen threat cases in the past week and made one arrest. Carrollton police said they responded to six threat cases at schools and made one arrest. Royse City took a 15-year-old boy into custody in connection with a bomb threat. Kemp Independent School District closed all schools on Wednesday as a precautionary measure.
“We take any and all threats we receive as a school system very seriously,” said Dr. T. Lamar Gorrie, superintendent of the Duncanville Independent School District.
Gorrie and Duncanville Independent School District police said Wednesday that while the majority of these threats are circulating online, they are not real.
“Right now, the threats that we’ve been receiving are essentially being copied and pasted and reused in the community,” Duncanville Independent School District Police Chief Mitchell Lambert said.
They partnered with local law enforcement and increased police presence.
“When it comes to threats against schools, investigations are a challenge because resources are being used to investigate,” Lambert said.
Many school districts have deployed counselors to help ease the emotional toll of these incidents on students, but some say these discussions need to happen at home too.
“It’s hard to have these conversations when you’re at home and trying to do things to distract your kids,” said E. “It’s a new time. The information we get is so much more up close and personal. We have to do a better job of being vigilant and watching out for our kids.”
With many threats reported this week, Lambert said he believes people are becoming more fearful of being intimidated.
“I don’t think there’s an increase or a decrease. I think it’s stable at this point. I know that with the heightened fear that the country has right now regarding school violence, we’re just becoming more aware of it,” Lambert said.
Duncanville Independent School District Police encourage people to immediately report any threats or concerns to police, or to report them at iWatchTX.org.
