Collier County Public Schools warns against sharing school threats online

NAPLES, Fla. — Collier County Public schools is focusing on safety. Each of the 60 sites managed by Collier County Public Schools has locked perimeter gating, cameras, deputies in halls, and key cards for buildings.

However, there is still another level of risk through social media.

The district hosted a press conference with the Collier County Sheriff's Office where superintendent of Collier schools, Dr. Leslie Ricciardelli says, an online school safety threat is as serious as a verbal one.

"This is really a critical message to students that if they're going to write it [a social media threat] they're going to be responsible for it. They will be caught because everything with technology you can track. We're just making sure that they know the rules and we share that information with parents too," she said.

Their message to students is, don't repost online threats, but rather... report them. This works to eliminate the spread of false information.

"When you make a threatening post it is going to be dealt with, with a sense of urgency... and then also with the same consistency as if it were a real threat," Dr. Ricciardelli said.