Editorial: Let's keep guns out of schools and report school threats to police immediately

School is difficult enough for students and teachers without having to worry about being in danger. And schools shouldn't have to invest energy and resources into investigating threats made on social media, but they do.

A shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, Sept. 4 killed two students and two teachers. Nine others were wounded. Police have taken a 14-year-old student of the school into custody.

Since that shooting, hundreds of school threats have disrupted schools nationwide. In the Quad-Cities, schools in Davenport, Eldridge, Moline, East Moline and Rock Island-Milan have dealt with threats posted on social media.

Davenport Police Chief Jeff Bladel announced in a press conference on Wednesday that police are aware of an increase in "vague, non-specific" threats of violence in schools circulating on social media.

One threat in the Quad-Cities originated from a social media post that indicated there would be a shooting at a middle school, but did not name a specific school. Police investigated and added security at schools.

Moline police determined one of the threats was from Ohio and not aimed at local schools. Unfortunately, the threat had been shared repeatedly, creating concern and anxiety among local parents, students and staff.

Eldridge police are investigating two separate threats made by students, one in high school and one in junior high. The threat from the high school student was determined to be re-posted from an incident in Missouri. The junior high student made alleged verbal threats.

In Davenport, Bladel said police have received reports of seven school threats in the past two weeks.

Both Bladel and Davenport School Superintendent TJ Schneckloth said the threats to Davenport schools were not credible, but that they all have to be taken seriously and be thoroughly investigated.

That's because school shootings are all too common.

According to data from The Washington Post, more than 380,000 students in the United States have experienced gun violence at school since the 1999 mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado.

The Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions reported this year that gun deaths remain the leading cause of people ages 1-17 each year since 2020. Gun deaths account for nearly one-third of all deaths among teens aged 15-17.

So, yes, there's reason to take threats of gun violence seriously.

No learning can take place unless everyone feels safe. And parents need assurance that their kids are safe. It makes sense that people would want to warn others about a potential threat, but police and school officials urge anyone who sees a threatening post on social media to reach out to police immediately, so the threat can be assessed before it spreads further.

In some cases, students are behind the threats that are shared on social media.

"This is an important reminder about the power of social media to quickly spread misinformation and rumors," Schneckloth said.

He encouraged parents to talk to kids about responsible use of social media.

Bladel warned that sharing non-credible threats creates more problems and chews into resources of both the police department and schools.

Ironically, the biggest threat to student safety in Davenport West High School came with without warnings or social media posts Sept. 4, the same day as the Georgia shooting. On that day Davenport police officers served a search warrant on two students, ages 15 and 17, as part of an investigation. Both students were carrying guns in their backpacks. Two guns somehow made it into a Davenport high school, putting students at risk.

It's scary that the guns were not detected until police checked backpacks as part of their search warrant. We appreciate that police and school officials arrested the students without incident, but students carrying guns in school must be prevented.

Davenport schools already limit points of entry, which adds protection from an outside threat. But if students are able to bring guns to school undetected, the potential for violence is escalated.

Some have called for metal/weapons detectors, which Rock Island-Milan added at the beginning of this school year. We believe Davenport schools need some way to assure students, teachers and parents that guns won't be brought into the schools. If metal detectors will provide that peace of mind, we say it's worth it.

With the social media threats, members of the public need to report those to police immediately and refrain from sharing the threat to others. Beyond that, as Schneckloth suggested, parents should make sure their kids know how to use social media responsibly, understand the harm that posting a threat can cause and that posting such a threat is a federal crime.

The police are best equipped to determine the credibility of a school threat. Let's use them and work together to limit unnecessary fear, while keeping guns out of our schools.