Awareness campaign launches as school-threat arrests spike
A recent spike in school threats made by MiamiDade students has led the school system to launch a new awareness campaign.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle joined school district officials Tuesday to launch the “It’s No Joke” campaign to warn students that they will be prosecuted if they make or post an online threat toward a school. She said she’s noticed a “discernible increase” in students making threats; six students have been arrested in the first eight weeks of the school year.
A new law passed after the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland made written threats to kill, do bodily injury or conduct a mass shooting a seconddegree felony charge. Rundle said 58 students in Miami-Dade have been arrested on that charge since the law went into effect.
Rundle said students arrested on those charges undergo a psychological evaluation, face expulsion and could be detained up to three weeks on felony charges.
“Arrest records are lifelong,” she said.
Todd Bass, an assistant state attorney in the juvenile division, said a small percentage of those students had access to firearms in their homes.
Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said school police have vetted 24 threats in the first quarter of the school year, leading to the arrest of six students, including a 15-year-old at G. Holmes Braddock Senior High on Monday. Last year, school police tracked down a total of 115 threats and arrested 20 students.
Carvalho said about a quarter of threats lead to school lockdowns.
“Make no mistake, we will prosecute to the full extent of the law,” he said.
Carvalho said the district is “exploring arenas” where parents could be held responsible for their child’s threatening posts. He said the district could propose language to the Florida Legislature making parents accountable for having weapons accessible to their children, as some threats come in the form of a photo of a child posing with a weapon from their home.
“Parents have come to us and said it needs to be explored,” Carvalho said.
The school district last year partnered with the FBI for its “Think Before You Post” campaign. This new campaign was made in partnership with the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.