“Generic” School Threats On The Rise

By Joshua Walther

COBLESKILL - During the latest CRCS Board of Education meeting last Monday, members discussed the prevalence of “generic social media threats” and how that might be perceived by students.

Superintendent Matthew Sickles opened his report by stating that there is a disturbing upward trend of these kinds of threats, not just in the immediate region, but across the nation.

Taking to an online platform to speak under an anonymous voice, these perpetrators do not target one institution in particular, but rather speak about “school” more generally. According to Superintendent Sickles, these threats are then engineered to show up in students’ regular feeds.

Because of how intentionally broad the subject is, a local student that’s perusing social media might view it through the lens of their own school and panic.

These threats are violent in nature, not unlike the shooting or bomb scares from the past. However, Superintendent Sickles reassured the public that there are no targeted attacks against CRCS or any school in the county and there was no cause for alarm.

Superintendent Sickles said that he’s collaborating closely with other superintendents in the region as well as the police to uncover how they can stop them from perpetuating, and he confirmed that an official investigation is underway.

“The challenges of school safety continue to evolve,” he said, a sentiment that agrees with his previous statements about the conflict between education and social media. “We work with the police immediately, then we take the actions appropriate for what we know.”

Although these threats might make a student uncomfortable, the district encourages any and all who see these online posts to report them as soon as they’re able, so that the police can shut them down sooner.

“Hopefully this becomes a thing of the past soon,” Superintendent Sickles concluded.