Social media threat leads to school closure, warnings

Some local schools are on alert or closing today in response to a threat to safety “for every school in the USA, even elementary” share on the social media platform TikTok.

The local schools note that the post appears to be part of a national trend on TikTok and did not originate in the local districts, but is circulating in the local schools.

Hays-Lodge Pole Schools announced the district schools are closed today because of the posts.

“The district has decided to cancel school for the safety of all students,” a post on the schools’ Facebook page said. “We haven’t received any direct threats, but as a safety measure we will be closed to students (today). Thank you for your understanding.”

The Big Sandy school district said that, even though it doesn’t have classes on Fridays and does not consider the threat to be credible, it is “closely monitoring the situation and taking it seriously,” including contacting Chouteau County law enforcement which may have an increased presence in school buildings as an added precaution.

Many other districts have put out similar statements, including Havre, which was disrupted for a short time Wednesday due to a shooting threat.

A student turned a note in to administration at Havre High School about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, leading the district to put Havre High into a “hold in place” status while the threat was investigated. Under that status, students and staff remain in the rooms they were in when the status started with all doors closed.

Havre Police said it dispatched officers to investigate the note, which indicated a shooting would occur near the end of the day Wednesday.

Havre Public Schools said the investigation determined before the end of the school day the threat was not credible and Havre High was in session Thursday.

After investigation, including gathering evidence and interviewing witnesses, the officers arrested a 16-year-old girl, who was transported to the Cascade County Juvenile Detention Center pending felony charges of intimidation. The case was referred to Hill County juvenile probation and the county attorney.

The Havre district, along with the Box Elder and Harlem school districts, said the TikTok posts circulating in the district do not appear to be credible and do not appear to be local in origin, but the districts are taking them seriously and monitoring the situation and additional police presence may be in their buildings today.

Several schools issuing warnings also said the situation is an example of why it is important not to share posts that refer to school safety threats.

Even if they are not credible, they cause a great deal of stress and anxiety, the messages say, adding that the districts encourage families to monitor their children’s social media activity and to talk to them about proper online behavior.

The warnings also ask anyone who becomes aware of any potential threat posted on social media or anywhere else to notify a school staff member or some trusted adult immediately.