Students told to leave backpacks at home amid threats on TikTok
Some Houston-area school districts asked all middle school and high school students to leave their backpacks at home on Friday as a safety precaution due to social media threats that authorities say are not credible.
Alief, Channelview, Fort Bend, Katy, La Porte and Spring ISDs as well as Lamar CISD all issued requests to that effect, citing posts on the social media platform TikTok challenging students to threaten their schools with gun violence.
School districts across the nation made announcements that there would be changes to safety protocols in light of the alleged threats, including other parts of Texas, as well as in New York, California, Connecticut, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Minnesota and Missouri. In some cases, classes were canceled and in other, more police were deployed to schools.
A statement posted by TikTok said that there is no evidence any threats of school violence originated on the platform.
“(We’ve) exhaustively searched for content that promotes violence at schools today, but have still found nothing,” the statement reads. “What we find are videos discussing this rumor and warning others to stay safe.”
The statement said the platform is working to remove all alarmist videos that violate its misinformation policy.
“Media reports have been widespread and based on rumors rather than facts, and we are deeply concerned that the proliferation of local media reports on an alleged trend that has not been found on the platform could end up inspiring real world harm,” the statement said.
In Houston ISD, officials left the decision to ask students to leave backpacks at home up to individual campuses Friday, said Luis Morales, senior media specialist for the district. Houston ISD’s Hogg Middle School told parents Thursday
that there would be no backpacks or hooded sweatshirts permitted at the school Friday.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and taking it seriously,” Houston ISD Police Chief Pedro Lopez Jr. said in a letter he released Thursday night, adding that investigators don’t believe any of the threats to be credible.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez wrote in tweets Friday morning that the office was “aware of the general school threat found on social media related to non-specific schools nationwide.”
“There have been no local school threats identified,” he wrote. “However, several school districts have increased security today. At this time, there are no known threats to schools in our region but we will continue to monitor the situation and work with all public safety partners.”
Fort Bend ISD officials said campus police have investigated local alleged threats this week, but did not release any information regarding potential suspects or arrests.
“Our investigators have been very successful locating individuals responsible for the posts,” reads a statement from the district. “Please know that consequences will be significant and will include any and all applicable criminal charges.”
The announcement comes almost a week after Fort Bend ISD’s Travis and Elkins High Schools received threats.
Katy ISD sent an email to parents Thursday night saying that while no campuses in the school system received direct threats, administrators would implement additional safety measures.
“To minimize disruptions to the instructional day, as well as any potential concerns about the Tik Tok posts, it is recommended that secondary (6th through 12th grade) students leave their backpacks at home tomorrow,” the email reads. “Also, out of an abundance of caution, additional police officers have been assigned to patrol our junior high and high school campuses on Friday.” Channelview ISD placed more officers on patrol at its campuses Friday in addition to not allowing backpacks.
Cypress-Fairbanks ISD did not issue a backpack ban Friday, however officials said the district will continue to implement its clear backpack policy on secondary campuses as a “precautionary measure.” The school system also had additional officers at schools Friday.
Scott Moore, Conroe ISD trustee, said Friday morning that none of the district’s campuses are named in any social media threats, but encouraged the school community to report anything suspicious.
“Safety is our top priority, and all reports are investigated,” he said in a Facebook post. “While there are no substantiated threats naming our campuses, we are vigilant in our efforts to provide a safe learning environment.”Kaufman ISD near Dallas closed one of its high school campuses Friday in light of the alleged threats.
In Spring Branch ISD, administrators on Friday received an anonymous phone call that a student was in possession of a bb gun on campus at the middle school. The school was immediately put into lockdown, district spokesperson Terry Abbott said. A search yielded nothing. Abbott said he didn’t believe the incident was connected to the alleged social media threats.
Earlier this week, a 15-year-old was expelled in Klein ISD due to alleged threats of school violence. The unsubstantiated threats caused a “mass exodus” of students from Klein Cain High School. Extra officers were deployed to the campus Monday and backpacks will no longer be allowed on the campus through at least the end of the year, officials said.
The incident occurred a week after a deadly school shooting in Oxford, Michigan that killed four students.
Many districts in the Houston region were released early Friday ahead of winter break.