Third incident threatening safety at Sioux Falls school found implausible

The Sioux Falls School District notified families and staff at 8:18 a.m. Wednesday of another incident that threatened safety at the school. This is the third such incident since school began in mid-August.

This raises questions among residents about how the district's communication with families has evolved and how such threats can be prevented and reported in the future.

Threats so far this school year have included:

An email from the school district regarding this latest incident stated that there is currently no threat to any of the schools and that classes will continue as scheduled due to safety protocols and a partnership with the Sioux Falls Police Department.

“We cannot stress this enough: Students and families need to know that there are significant consequences when school safety is compromised,” the school district's email said. “This will never be considered 'just a joke.' We thank everyone who informed us of this post in accordance with the 'See Something, Say Something' protocol.”

The district also warned that reposting a threat will not stop it but will only “sow fear and misinformation.” Officials urged people to report threats like this one and not repost them.

Neither Superintendent Jane Stavem nor Police Chief Jon Thum would disclose the student's age, grade level, school and gender, or what exact disciplinary or punitive action he would face in connection with the latest threat. Nor would they say which school or schools were targeted in the latest threat.

Stavem referred reporters to the district's disciplinary matrix in the district's JK-R policy, which outlines how and when students can expect, for example, detention, expulsion, after-school suspension, short- or long-term suspension, or expulsion.

She clarified that the student who made this latest threat was not at school on Wednesday and said the school district and police take all threats seriously.

More:Police charge teenagers with online threats against Sioux Falls schools

Thum said police investigate each threat, which includes numerous late-night phone calls between security officers, lieutenants and school staff as they work through the various reported cases, which can be exhausting work for law enforcement.

Stavem said she would not describe these three threats, made in quick succession, as an “increase” compared to last school year. She also said they were not related.

“You have to get into the mind of a student who may or may not be thinking about what's going on around them,” Stavem said, to figure out why students make such threats. “They see this behavior, it's glorified, it's attention seeking, or whatever the motivation may be, and they decide that's what they're going to do.”

Thum added that there are several reasons why students make such threats. Sometimes they see it as an “opportunity to cause chaos” or “disruption.”

How did the school district respond to the first threat?

In the first incident this school year, a Sioux Falls teenager was later charged with altering or changing a school shooting threat that originated in another state to make it appear as though it was aimed at Sioux Falls-area schools. The perpetrator will be charged in juvenile court, and the post did not contain a credible threat, police said.

The threat appeared to be a copycat of similar posts circulating across the country, Sioux Falls police said at the time. An image of the threat obtained by the Argus Leader, which was also widely shared on other social media, mentioned Edison, George McGovern, Memorial and Whittier middle schools as possible targets.

The Sioux Falls School District sent emails to parents around 9:15 p.m. on Sept. 9 saying there were no concerns about schools Tuesday morning and that the initial threat had come from outside South Dakota.

First threats:Sioux Falls police find online threats against schools in the region implausible on Monday

The district's email also said police would visit the homes of area students known to have shared or reposted the threat.

“Threats like those we have seen this week will not be tolerated and will result in severe consequences both in the legal system and at school,” said the email, which was obtained by the Argus Leader. “All parents need to talk to their students about social media use and understand that students will be held accountable for it.”

The school district's email also said it will “continue to work diligently to resolve this situation and ensure our schools are welcoming places to learn” because “school safety is our highest priority.”

After second threat: communication in the district called into question

In the second incident reported by police, 15-year-old Davion Bridges was arrested after authorities received a call about a person with a gun outside Axtell Park School on Sept. 11. He was then taken into custody for making terroristic threats and brandishing a weapon on school property, police said. He was not a student at that campus.

After being taken to a juvenile detention center, Bridges somehow managed to escape the facility Wednesday night. He was then found and taken back into custody Thursday morning, police and county officials said. The identity, age, charges and details of a juvenile's arrest are not typically released, but police were able to obtain a court order from a judge to release that information and help the public understand the seriousness of the person being sought, police said at the time.

Second threat:Sioux Falls Police Arrest Teen for Weapon Possession at Axtell Park School

Parents like Julian Beaudion, who is also a South Dakota Highway Patrol trooper and civic activist, said he was angry that the district did not inform parents about the incident sooner, calling the communication unacceptable.

He told the Argus Leader he wanted an explanation from the district as to why there was a lack of communication with the community.

“After the child escaped from custody, we should have been notified at that time and additional safety precautions should have been put in place for the children in the school district,” Beaudion said. “We need to know how the district decides when to say something and when to cancel classes because of a threat.”

Stavem explained that the district must consider many factors before sending families an email or other notification about an incident, such as the location of origin, the content of the threat, the time of day, any response or steps the school needs to take, whether the incident will impact the start of the school day or dismissal, etc.

“I think some people think it's a simple decision-making process, but I can tell you it's not,” Stavem said. “There are also times when we can't share information. Legal things may happen, the police may take action, other related things may happen that need to be cleared up before we can provide information, or we can't disclose certain things for security reasons. We also have laws to protect student privacy.”

The type of notification also depends on the incident, Stavem said, noting that if there is a threat to a specific neighborhood, a police matter at a specific school, or a curfew or lockdown at a school, a message will be sent to that specific school. If the threat is to an entire grade level, as was the case with the first one, the district may limit the notification to one grade level. On the other hand, if students at any grade level or school perceive a threat, the district will notify the entire district.

The district reminds people to report and not repost

These threats “absolutely” impact students, but also adults who work in schools, parents and the community, Stavem said.

“We can't allow this to continue,” she said. “We're going to continue to deal with things as they happen, but we also need parents to work with us. They need to know what their kids are doing online. They need to know what they're doing on their phones. They need to have access to what their kids are looking at, what they're creating, what they're forwarding. This is where we need to partner with our families.”

Third incident threatening safety at Sioux Falls school found implausible

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