Community forum on school safety hosted in Buckeye to reassure concerned parents
BUCKEYE, Ariz. - Parents in the Valley are hearing from law enforcement after several school threats circulated on social media recently.
This led to the arrest of two students in Buckeye last week.
A lot of parents did not send their children to school last week because of the threats circulating on social media.
Those parents came to a scheduled meeting at Blue Horizons Elementary School on Sept. 17 to get answers.
What parents and guardians are saying about the threats
"I definitely kept my kids from school," said parent Jesse Aguilar.
"Children tend to mimic and try to get attention so I'm concerned that there's too much of that going around and that maybe it's for attention more than a real threat. However, I don't discount that children do these things and I'm just glad everyone involved is proactive," said Doni Bond, a grandparent of a student.
Concerned parents filled the school to hear from law enforcement and school board officials.
"I'm just here to see what some of the local authorities are doing about the problem," Aguilar said.
Local law enforcement received 500 calls in two days regarding online school threats.
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"As you can see, this was nationwide. In fact, we were wondering if there was some kind of TikTok challenge because it was that far spread nationwide," said Buckeye Police Chief Bob Sanders.
Last week, a 13-year-old girl from Bales Elementary School and a 17-year-old boy from Buckeye Union High School were arrested in separate school threat incidents.
"(The) two arrests were not credible threats, however we investigate all threats as being credible until proven otherwise," said Sanders.
"We are doing everything with our law enforcement partners, school district staff to ensure the children are as safe as they can possibly be," said Michael Todd, Litchfield Elementary School District Board President.
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At the meeting, parents learned how schools and police investigate these threats to determine if they are real.
They also reassured parents that they are making sure students are safe at school.
"Notifications to families doesn't always come immediately because we have to qualify the threat, we also sometimes have a law enforcement investigation going so we're partnered with them and we don't release information until they give us confirmed valid information," Todd said.
Officers here say you should not believe everything you see on the internet. If you see an online threat, don't spread it, instead contact police.