Springfield City Schools and other districts also notified parents Thursday evening.
The ‘National Shoot Up Your School Day’ challenge and others like it can lead to anxiety in children and make them more emotional, experts say.
Young children are still developing the concept of reality versus fantasy, and often see these types of media as factual, so they have “difficulty discerning when it is a threat or childish venting of emotion,” said Betsy Linnell, assistant professor of psychology at Cedarville University and licensed professional clinical counselor.
“Parents, teachers and children, because of their inability to discern whether the challenges are genuine dangers or childish immaturity, have exhibited heightened anxiety and react in ways that can create more dangerous situations,” she said. “In addition, these challenges are disrupting student education, which previously was disrupted by COVID, and is increasing student deficits in learning.”
Parents can help their children deal with the anxiety and other emotional issues brought on by school threats by addressing kids’ questions, discussing how they are safe, who their support people are to keep them safe and who to ask for help if they are feeling unsure, said Mary Beth DeWitt, chief child psychology at Dayton Children’s Hospital.
“(Parents) should likely limit exposure to distressing information on the news and social media as this can add to increased anxiety and uncertainty,” she said.
The Clark County Sheriff’s office and Springfield Police Division called on parents to ensure their children aren’t taking part in such challenges or making threats at school.
“We urge parents to be involved in what your children are doing online and on social media,” Springfield Police Division Chief Lee Graf said. “Although it can be uncomfortable, you need to have those tough conversations with them about what they’re seeing on the Internet and the consequences of participating in dangerous trends like this one. It’s extremely serious.”
Although there have not been any incidents in the schools related to the challenge, some students didn’t show up to schools Friday due to the threat, including at Northeastern, Clark-Shawnee, Greenon and Springfield-Clark CTC.
“We are aware of a few families who elected to keep their students at home as a precaution given the disturbing social media challenge directed toward schools,” Clark-Shawnee Superintendent Brian Kuhn said.
According to the Ohio School Safety Center (OSSC), which is housed within Ohio Homeland Security, a division of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, all schools within the state of Ohio are required to develop and adopt a comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (EMP).
These plans consist of an Emergency Operations Plan, floor plan, site plan, emergency contact information sheet, and a stakeholder’s signature page. Each year, schools are required to conduct an emergency management test to validate the procedures in the EMP.
“When a school is made aware of a threat from a student, anonymous reporting system, or other means, they typically immediately contact local law enforcement to start an investigation,” said Emily Torek, administrator of the OSSC. “In addition to this, schools may use their existing threat assessment teams to evaluate the information provided for assessment and intervention.”
Threat assessment teams are typically made up of school counselors, school resource officers, and administrators that look at the totality of circumstances and students involved to determine whether the student has the intent to commit the harms and the means to carry it out, Torek said.
“Law enforcement does a similar calculation when they conduct an investigation and can assist with determining the source of a post through investigation of open-source social media and interviews,” she added. “Building strong partnerships with first responders is essential for addressing these types of threats.”
Students, staff, families, and community members from all districts are encouraged to report any suspicious activity or posts made on social media to the school or police department. All threats are taken seriously, and any student who makes threats will face disciplinary action at school and possible legal consequences.
Although law enforcement doesn’t consider the ‘National Shoot Up Your School Day’ challenge a credible, some wonder if TikTok can be held legally responsible if someone were to follow through on the threat.
The social media platform can’t be held liable, but an individual could potentially be charged for starting it, said Marc Clauson, professor of history and law at Cedarville University.
“A person could be charged if it can be demonstrated that the social media post incites others to commit a crime. And, furthermore, that crime has to be in close proximity to the social media post in time and a reasonable person would take it seriously and not as a joke,” Clauson said.
Social media platforms have a “great latitude” in what can be posted and, unlike other social media platforms, TikTok has a “freer account dealing with content because they know they won’t be held liable,” Clauson said.
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