Several schools across Tri-Cities region receiving threats in wake of Georgia shooting

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Va. (WJHL) — Schools across the region have been receiving threats in the wake of a fatal school shooting in Georgia. Some of those schools are in Washington County, Virginia and include Wallace Middle School, E.B. Stanley Middle School and High Point Elementary.

Wednesday, a juvenile suspect was charged with four counts of threats of death or serious injury at schools in that county.

Sergeant Mike Danser, School Resource Division Officer at the Washington County, Virginia’s Sheriff Department, said no threats are taken lightly.

“We do know that the majority of what we deal with are kids being just kids and mischievous and placing these things,” said Sergeant Danser. “However, we can’t let our guard down and get to the point that it is just commonplace and we become too complacent in it and allow things to happen. We have to treat each and every situation as if it’s real.”

Danser told News Channel 11 that most of the threats come from social media posts circulating the internet, and most kids don’t understand the consequences of these threats.

“There are criminal charges that can be placed and will be placed on those when it causes a disruption of the normal flow within the school system,” said Danser.

Washington County, Virginia sheriff’s deputies train multiple times throughout the year as often as they can.

“Our school resource division trains every time there is an outage in school, whether it’s during the summer when we train multiple times, Christmas break, or fall and spring breaks,” said Danser.

Wednesday morning, John Sevier Middle School in Kingsport received a threat involving social media posts. Andy True, Assistant Superintendent with Kingsport City Schools, says communication is vital.

“We have a great relationship with the Kingsport Police Department, so immediately being able to start that process with KPD to let them know,” said True. “Making sure they were aware of everything so they could start their investigation.”

It turned out to be a non-credible threat, but True said it’s always good to be prepared.

“We are going to take every threat seriously, and that’s why we so quickly engage with law enforcement and monitor things like the Tennessee Department of Homeland Security when they provide information to us,” said True.

School threats can also cause high anxiety for the students.

“We have some structures in place when it comes to things like our school counselors to be able to meet with students,” said True. “We try to make sure our staff is adequately informed as well, so that way, on a minute-by-minute basis in the classroom, they can help be able to share that information with students.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather.