It’s time to criminalize threats of violence against our schools

In the most powerful, advanced country in the world, how is it that many parents, myself included, are still haunted by the same question: “Will my child be safe at school today?”

Threats made toward schools, whether through words or writing, have been on the rise nationally in recent years. The FBI recorded a whopping 60% increase in the number of school threats across the U.S. in 2022. Over the past year, there were at least nine school threats made across Senate District 4 in over half the counties I represent, including Amador, El Dorado, Inyo, Madera, Merced and Stanislaus counties.

An alarming incident unfolded in November 2023 when Jason Vassar, a Belleview Elementary school board trustee in Tuolumne County, submitted a chilling 90-plus page manifesto detailing himself as “an executioner” to school officials. His manifesto was split into three parts, with one particularly disturbing statement read, “I was kind of shocked to read in Revelations that I was going to be the executioner for God and kill your children.” Vassar is required by a restraining order to stay at least 1,000 feet from the Belleview school campus.

It is appalling to me that any individual with such thoughts would serve in public office, let alone step foot on a school campus. In several incidents across my district, there were no criminal charges filed against the person making threats.

While we are beyond fortunate Vassar had not acted on the words contained in his manifesto, there is no criminal case against him as the matter stands now. According to the Tuolumne County District Attorney’s Office, there is no crime to charge him with.

And this isn’t just a problem here in Senate District 4 issue. In the city of Davis, in Yolo County, the issue of school threats has created a high level of fear and anxiety among some teachers, students and parents. One teacher I spoke with who preferred to remain anonymous for safety reasons told me there have been at least half a dozen threats made near or at North Davis Elementary since Fall of 2023; she has been teaching there for the past four years.

The Davis teacher specifically recalled an incident during the first few weeks of the school year, where a bomb threat sent the school into lock-down.

“For 70 minutes, we were trying to calm and reassure 180 kids inside the multi-purpose room,” the teacher said, adding that these incidents not only create feelings of anger, apprehension, fear and panic, but they promote an unhealthy learning environment for students and teachers.

“Our goal as teachers is to keep our kids safe both mentally and physically,” the teacher said. “If students aren’t feeling safe, how can we expect them to excel?”

This very incident haunts another North Davis Elementary mother who also requested to remain anonymous, fearing for the safety of her family.

“I could hear the sirens go off, and I didn’t know where my six-year-old son was,” she said. “I thought, ‘Is there an active