Danville family speaks out after school shuts down in-person class over threat

DANVILLE, Ill. (WCIA) — The Danville School District received a school threat Wednesday morning, causing the schools to shut down in-person classes for the remainder of the day.

The Danville superintendent sent out a message announcing that classes were switched to E-learning while authorities would continue to investigate the threat. They added that all district buildings would be closed for the day.

“I’d rather be in school, but E-learning is pretty good too,” said 4th grade student Jacob Henton.

However, later in the afternoon, Danville Police detectives determined the treat wasn’t credible. Real or not, it was still a scary situation for families.

“That’s one of the things we stress to our kids. We want to make sure they’re not being a part of that, they’re not calling in prank threats or anything like that,” said Jacob’s father Jason Henton.

Jason Henton also works with children at the Danville Boys and Girls Club. He said he wants everyone who enters the doors to walk away knowing things like this are serious.

“So that our kids understand that when there’s a threat, there’s a potential for danger and they need to be aware of that and keep themselves safe as well,” Jason Henton said.

Further investigation of the threat revealed it originated on social media and was posted from a location in the Chicago area. Officials said it is “reasonable to believe” that the person who shared the threat is not in the city of Danville.

“Through a threat assessment, the Danville Police Department believes the risk indicators in this incident are low and noncredible,” officials said in a press release. “There have been no direct engaging threats that are believed valid.”

Danville Police will continue to investigate and follow up on this incident, officials said. They will also continue to work diligently with the Danville School District to ensure safety and security.

In the end, Jason Henton wants to start a conversation with students about potential dangers like this, and get closer to a day with no threats curbing education.

“We just hope that our community is strong enough to talk to our youth about those things,” Jason Henton said. “And if there’s any problems that our youth are having, that they have somebody they can come to like we do here at the Boys and Girls Club and many other organizations in our area.”

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