Quad-Cities schools, police handle influx of unfounded threats; urge reporting posts

Quad-Cities area schools have faced a barrage of unfounded social media threats over the last two weeks — impacting nearly every community, including Davenport, East Moline, Eldridge, Moline and Rock Island.

Violent threats against schools have circulated on social media nationwide since the Sept. 4 shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia, which resulted four deaths.

Local authorities have found no credible evidence to support any real or direct threat to Quad-Cities schools.

Still, in the wake of Apalachee – and the nation's other 416 school shootings since 1999 – the recent wave of threats has caused fear among students and families. They have also led to police presence and other precautions at area schools and hours of investigation by district officials and law enforcement.

"Generally speaking, an investigation of violence directed towards a school is investigated the same as any other case," the Moline Police Department said in an email. "Detectives work diligently to track the source of the information, conduct interviews, track digital evidence and evaluate intelligence information."

Davenport Police Chief Jeff Bladel held a press conference Wednesday to address the area's recent wave of "vague, non-specific" school violence threats on social media.

Approximately seven school threats have been reported to Davenport Police in the last two weeks, he said.

"Threats of violence in our schools will not be tolerated," Bladel said. "Threats such as these are taken very seriously, and even if there is no intent to follow through, everything will be (investigated) thoroughly."

But doing so takes time and resources away from other investigative priorities.

"It's definitely, always going to be a priority," Bladel said. "But if these are known to be non-credible (threats), and they're continually being shared, that's still chewing into the resources of your police department, of your school district, and it kind of handcuffs us a little bit."

Davenport Superintendent TJ Schneckloth said the same goes for district administrators.

"It is an absolute disruption to our days," he said, citing examples such as coordinating with law enforcement and security personnel, fielding calls and rescheduling all external activities indoors. "It's a complete reshuffle of all the resources on the inside of the building."

Rock Island-Milan Superintendent Sharon Williams said she's seen staff having to take two to three-plus hours a day responding to reported threats.

"We have not seen an increase of absences; however, we have noticed some instructional time (lost) as a result of social media threats," she said.

Schneckloth said attendance has been "drastically impacted" by the recent threats.

North Scott students have missed school for this reason, too, said security coordinator and high school vice principal Aaron Schwartz.

"There's a lot of anxiety ... I would bet we have kids sitting in class (who are) not focused on what they're doing because they're wondering, 'Am I really safe here?'" he said. "I think that's an unfortunate reality today for our kids and our parents."

Eldridge police are investigating two students – one in high school and the other in junior high – for threatening comments reported just one day apart.

The high schooler's threat was determined to be re-posted from an incident in Missouri, and authorities are still looking into the junior high schooler's verbal threats. The student will not attend North Scott Junior High while the investigation is open.

"We go through threat assessments, we're reaching out to our tech department, our local PD, counselors ... anybody that could potentially have information to help up verify if this is a credible threat," Schwartz said. "The disruption — whether it's in the classroom for a student or in the front office with admin — definitely has an impact every time."

To mitigate disruptions, community members should contact police and school officials immediately if they learn of a post containing "potentially threatening or concerning information" against schools.

"Do not reshare or repost these images," Schneckloth said. "Doing so only leads to increased fear, speculation and the spreading of misinformation – (often) the very intent of the individual making the post."

Reporting instead of reposting, he said, allows investigations to begin faster and, thus, better determine the credibility of the threat.

"This is an important reminder about the power of social media to quickly spread misinformation and rumors," Schneckloth said. "We encourage you to talk to your children about the importance of responsible social media use and the dangers of spreading unverified information that can cause unnecessary fear."

Making, or perpetuating, school-based threats has consequences beyond misinformation — it can lead to criminal charges.

"It's not just school discipline, it's a legal consequence," Bladel said. "We want to make that perfectly clear for the people making false accusations."

Multiple students in the greater Chicago area, northern California and other regions have been arrested and charged over the past two weeks for posting these kinds of threats online, even after police deem the threats to be baseless.

Locally, Eldridge Police are working with the Scott County Attorney's Office in processing the student who made verbal threats at North Scott Junior High.

"The charge of harassment in the first degree (an aggravated misdemeanor) has been filed with the juvenile courts for review," Eldridge Police Chief Andrew Lellig said in a press release Thursday.

In addition, two Davenport West High School students face charges after guns were found in their backpacks earlier this month. Police found the guns while serving search warrants and said the investigation was unrelated to the school.

Officials urge parents to talk with kids about social media use

While students and parents should follow the mantra of "See something, Say something" when it comes to reporting concerning behavior or social media posts to authorities, school officials say it's just as important to have regular, honest conversations about appropriate language and social media use at home.

Each local district has individual social media conduct policies, and Illinois law requires school districts to teach about online safety.

"Unfortunately, you can't really predict where or when the next threat may come from," Williams said. "But we feel that our current policies and procedures put our district in the best possible position to investigate and respond accordingly."

Perhaps even more unfortunate, is how some school leaders perceive these behaviors to be the norm.

"In most of our investigations, we've found that this kind of threatening demeanor has almost become a commonplace response," Schwartz said. "I don't know that kids truly understand the severity of their words when they say these things, given our society."

To reiterate this, North Scott's school resource officer gave lessons about online conduct to freshman classes this fall.

"We're trying to be more proactive, but obviously, we need the support of everyone to share the message of 'These kinds of things aren't OK,'" Schwartz said. "The people who have the most contact with these kids are the parents, so I'm going to encourage (having) those conversations consistently at home."

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