School threats are no longer ‘just kid stuff’

It’s hard to remember that there was a time when threats against schools often were considered little more than pranks.

It’s hard to remember that there was a time — not all that long ago — when threats against schools often were considered little more than pranks.

Then came Columbine, which shattered a nation’s innocence. And Sandy Hook, which shattered our hearts. And Virginia Tech, which left us dumbfounded.

It’s even harder to believe that anyone would still dabble in the thought that schools and law enforcement take any kind of threat issued against a school, students or staff lightly.

Apparently, and sadly, that’s not the case.

Witness what happened last week in Delaware County’s William Penn School District. There was a heavy police presence at the schools Friday, after threats of a mass shooting were posted on social media.

School was held as normal, albeit with extra security. No incidents were reported.

But that was not the end of the story.

On Monday, law enforcement gathered to announce that two 13-year-old girls were being charged with making the threats against the schools.

The threats were lodged on Instagram. After an intense 20 hours of police work, officials announced charges against the two juvenile females, one from Yeadon and the other from Darby Borough.

Police started received word of the threatening posts at 8:25 Thursday night, targeting Penn Wood 9th Grade Academy at 600 Cypress St. in Yeadon, and the main campus of Penn Wood High School t 100 Green Ave. in Lansdowne. At about 10:30 p.m., Yeadon Police Chief Anthony Paparo started texting the suspected Instagram account to see if he could illicit a response, or, as the chief put it, “if I could get some kind of stir.” He didn’t have to wait long. Paparo started getting responses from one of the accounts. Over the next 30 minutes he received enough information to suspect several people were involved, and there may be a connection to a fight or some other kind of incident between those making the posts and others at the schools.

The chief made clear his intentions to the poster, as well as identifying himself as a police officer.

“I’m going to find you. I’m going to lock you up,” he informed the social media poster.

The response was chilling. Paparo said the poster responded that if police came to the house, they would be shot.

District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer made a point to shatter any mistaken belief that such behavior would not be taken seriously.

“We’re now 20 years past Columbine,” he said. “We now know we cannot take any threat to a school community anything but seriously.”

Paparo wanted to deliver a stern message — and not just to kids. He urged parents to monitor what their kids are doing online and on social media.

It’s a familiar lament, a sign of the new world we all live in. Kids are no longer pulling fire alarms or stopping up toilets. Today they don’t even have to leave the comfort of their bedroom to put an entire community on edge. All they have to do is pick up their phone.

“Parents, monitor what your kids are doing online and on social media,” the chief counseled. “I was talking to a 13-year-old girl who thought I was an adult, or at least high school-aged kid, at 11:30 at night where she was threatening to shoot me on her posts. Know what your kids are doing. Be involved.”

Both Paparo and Yeadon Mayor Rohan Hepkins did offer a sliver of good news with this sobering development. Both credited both young people and others in the community with not only quickly alerting authorities to the threat, but also aiding in the investigation.

Hepkins hoped to use Monday’s press conference as a learning experience, a teachable moment if you will in the new online world we all dwell in. He suggested all of us could “educate the public and glean lessons learned from our experience that perhaps other municipalities can learn from, and we can all collectively learn in these trying times.”

The two juveniles were not named. They will be charged with making terroristic threats and unlawful use of a computer.

Let’s hope it’s a lesson learned, one we thought had already been driven home multiple times.

School threats are no longer kid stuff.

Just ask two kids — 13-yearolds — now facing criminal charges.