Threat deemed not credible at CASH

LINESVILLE — A potential threat to Conneaut Area Senior High (CASH) was investigated by Pennsylvania State Police and deemed not credible Monday, according to Conneaut School District officials, while the district’s use of social media to notify families of the situation drew backlash.

The incident resulted from what Adam Jardina, assistant to the superintendent, called a “random Snapchat” post from someone unconnected to the school that was seen by a student who reported it to CASH administrators.

“Unfortunately, we have this type of thing happening all over the country, and it is so disruptive for the school districts,” Jardina said in a phone interview Tuesday. “It is pretty frustrating to deal with, that’s for sure.”

While classes proceeded as normal, Jardina said that state police troopers and Linesville Borough Police Department officers remained on campus throughout the day.

“We want to make sure that our kids feel safe. That’s all it is — out of an abundance of caution and making sure everybody on campus feels safe,” Jardina said. “Even when they know it wasn’t credible, any time you’re talking about having that kind of conversation, you want to make sure everybody feels safe.”

Conneaut officials posted a notification regarding the incident to the Conneaut School District’s Facebook page at 1:07 p.m. Monday. Over the next 24 hours, the post received 77 comments, many of them critical.

In one typical response, a commenter who responded about three and a half hours after the district posted the original message wondered in all caps why she was only “just now hearing this.”

“Parents should have been notified immediately after law enforcement,” the post continued. “It is not up to the school to decide we don’t need to know simply because you felt it was not credible!!! I should never hear about a threat to my child via Facebook!”

Jardina said he was aware of critical comments the post had received and that the district has policies in place regarding how to respond in such situations.

“Obviously, if it was a credible threat, we certainly would have been doing an all-call,” he said, referring to the automated emergency phone notification system used to notify all district families in the event of delays, closings or emergencies.

Similarly unfounded threats were investigated in September in both Conneaut and PENNCREST school districts, part of a wave of such incidents that spread via social media. At the time, the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General reported that its Safe2Say Something had experienced an increase of more than 50 percent in tips, many of them attributable to false threats shared on social media.

According to the attorney general’s office, these threats are often generic in nature and are shared on social media with the intent of going viral and causing panic and alarm.

The unfounded threats emerging from social media are particularly frustrating because, in addition to taking up police and staff resources, they can cause families to question their safety when there is no real threat — what Jardina called a “lose-lose situation.”

“There’s no way it can’t be disruptive to some level,” he said, referring to the need to investigate and the presence of multiple officers for much of the school day on Monday. “Your goal is to minimize that when it’s not credible.”

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