Threats made against three of Paulding County’s high schools this week prompted increased security measures and low attendance, officials said Friday.
Authorities arrested a 14-year-old Paulding High School student who allegedly made one of the threats. He is not accused of making a threat Thursday at North Paulding High School.
That threat, which was written on a desk, led 96 percent of students to stay home Friday, Paulding County School District spokeswoman Suzanne Wooley told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Of North Paulding High School’s 2,312 students, only 102 showed up following a threat indicating “there would be a shooting at the school on May 5th.”
While Principal Mark Crowe described the threat as “a low-level, non-credible threat” and said operations would continue as normal, he told parents that absences would be excused and prom attendance requirements would be waived for those who didn’t attend school.
“Parents and families should discuss and make a decision that is right for your family,” Crowe said Thursday in a letter to parents that was posted on social media.
Increased security was also provided by sheriff’s deputies at the school’s prom Friday night, officials said, even though there were no incidents at the school earlier in the day, Paulding sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Ashley Henson said.
“Everything ended up as a normal day minus the students that did not show up,” Henson said. “We had extra deputies there all day and nothing problematic happened.”
But the school district and sheriff's office have been investigating copy cat threats at two other schools this week, superintendent Brian Otott said.
“Whether on social media, verbally or written on a bathroom wall, the impact is felt throughout our district and does impact our community,” he said.
The 14-year-old boy who was arrested Friday had shared on the social media app Snapchat a school shooting threat against Paulding County High School. He was charged with dissemination of information of terroristic threats and acts, but told authorities it was all a joke.
The teenager was released back to his parents’ custody because he was a juvenile without a criminal record, Henson said.
Otott said the student could face serious consequences, including out-of-school suspension or expulsion.
Henson said the department is also investigating two threats against Hiram High School.
Officials at that school said graffiti in two bathrooms hinted that a shooting could happen Monday. Another threat, posted on Instagram, was made by someone who was not a student or a county resident.
Henson said at least one deputy routinely patrols each high school and middle school in the county every school day, but additional police presence is planned for Monday.
No arrests have been made in the Hiram and North Paulding high school threats.
Attendance was low at two other Paulding schools Friday, Wooley said, with 78 percent of students at McClure Middle School and 75 percent of students at Burnt Hickory Elementary.
While they were not targets of the threat, the schools also received additional police protection Friday, the district said.
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