A DeKalb County middle school student received a three-day in-school suspension after he was seen cocking a gun in a Snapchat video captioned “Don’t come to school tomorrow.”
The threat was the latest in more than a dozen reported since a teen killed 17 and injured more than a dozen more in a South Florida high school.
According to a note sent to parents from Peachtree Charter Middle School, school officials were made aware of the Snapchat post Sunday, and it was thoroughly investigated, with the administrative action decided Monday.
Metro Atlanta school districts have been inundated with copycat threats and suspicious behavior calls in the weeks since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Several students have been arrested for making social media threats.
A student from Lanier High School in Gwinnett County was arrested in connection with making terrorist threats after he shared a video on social media of a clip being loaded into a gun while someone says "South Gwinnett, you're next."
A middle school student at Fulton County's Northwestern Middle School in Milton was arrested after sharing threats to students on social media. He's not allowed back at the school, district officials said.
“DCSD followed its procedures and protocols after becoming aware of the social media threat, including taking disciplinary action against the student involved per the Student Code of Conduct,” Superintendent Steve Green said through a spokesman. “There are other facets of this incident that cannot be shared publicly due to (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), including law enforcement proceedings.
“However, DCSD will always act in the best interest of its students and will take the necessary and available steps at its disposal in order to ensure the safety of students and staff members.”
The DeKalb County School District’s Student Code of Conduct says a guilty student faces “age-appropriate consequences” related to their misconduct.
District officials do not comment on specifics related to personnel actions.
Level 3 violations include an “unsafe action” or “incident outside of school hours or away from school,” and is punishable by up to three days in-school suspension.
Level 5 violations include weapons or threatening to do injury to a person or property, and is punishable with out-of-school suspension of six to 10 days, and a probationary contract.
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The AJC's Marlon A. Walker keeps you updated on the latest happenings in metro Atlanta K-12 news and DeKalb County Schools. You'll find more on myAJC.com, including these stories:
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