GAINESVILLE - With a rising number of "copycat" threats targeting school systems, Hall County School officials are working to put a stop to such behavior.
School Superintendent Will Schofield announced Thursday the school system will offer a reward of $1,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of anyone who makes a threat towards a school.
"Monetary rewards have seemed to be a very effective way to get kids talking about the negative aspects of behaviors," said Schofield.
He said access to Facebook and Twitter has made it easier for threats to be levied against schools...even idle threats that are issued when a student might not mean any harm, but is trying to be funny.
"We just want to make it crystal clear that we take every threat seriously. We'll do whatever it takes to do our due diligence and that's the reason behind the new thousand dollar reward," Schofield said.
Schofield said if any threat are found, the school system will pursue felony charges against violators.
In the last week, both West Hall High School and North Hall High School were the objects of perceived threats. The case at West Hall turned out to be a situation where a cell phone auto-corrected a text message and changed the word "gonna" to "gunman," leading the recipient of the message to take the issue to law enforcement. At North Hall High School, a note was found on the floor and was determined not to be a threat by school officials and law enforcement. Students apparently spread rumors about the note that prompted a statement to be issued to parents and the media by the school principal.
Wednesday
May 8th, 2024
5:17PM
