More and more students threaten Polk schools with violence, 24 arrests

POLK COUNTY, Fla. – In recent weeks, Polk County Public Schools has seen an alarming increase in the number of students making online threats to bomb or attack a school with gun violence. In the first 28 days of school, 24 students were arrested for making written death threats. There were 42 total arrests last school year.

“Students are being arrested, charged with a second-degree felony, and from the school district's perspective, we will take full consequences if any student or non-student in our community reports such incidents by phone or posts anything online or via email,” said Fred Heid, superintendent of Polk County Public Schools.

Heid said the school district has a zero-tolerance policy. Anyone who threatens violence will also be expelled from school and must recoup the cost of investigating those cases, which totals more than $5,000.

“Each threat assessment can take between three and five hours of a police officer's time,” Heid said. “Part of the threat assessment process is that we visit the school and interview the student and their family. Police officers ask for permission to search the school to determine if a student has any weapons or firearms available,” he said.

None of the threats proved credible. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said whether the threats are real or not, words matter.

“We need to look into this because every school shooting has had signs beforehand that people have ignored. This school district will not ignore them,” Judd said.

Most reports of threats in schools were reported through FortifyFL, an app that allows users to report suspicious activity to law enforcement and school authorities.

“Given all of these developments, I am seriously considering home schooling or private school,” said Rebecca Carlson.

Carlson worries about her granddaughter's future, but praises the district for taking every threat seriously.

“I'm glad they're actually taking responsibility and dealing with it in a disciplined way. I don't think it's OK to just excuse it, and they need to understand the consequences of their actions,” Carlson said.

To ensure safety on school grounds, the school district continues to implement a variety of security measures, including security officers, random searches, and wall scanning.

“I ask our families to have honest and detailed conversations with their children about the seriousness of this problem and the potential consequences that could arise not only for the child but also financially for the family,” Heid said.