BELLE — Maries County school districts took extra precautions on Sept. 13 after a Thursday social media threat that was later deemed non-credible by the Maries County Sheriff’s Office. The threat is believed to be part of a nationwide trend.

During morning drop-off, officers from Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) Troop I, Gasconade County Sheriff’s Office, Belle Police Department (BPD) and Maries County R-2 Police Department (MCR2-PD) were present to secure both the Bland and Belle campuses. The district was also in contact with the Maries County Sheriff’s Office and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

According to a press release from Maries County R-2 Superintendent Dr. Lenice Basham around 9:15 a.m. on Friday, the threat was reported to the MCR2-PD on Thursday night through the MSHP’s Courage to Report system. The district sent out a notification through the Maries County R-2 Schools app early Sept. 13, but due to an update malfunction in the app, few parents received it.

Basham sent an email to parents on Friday night around 4:30 p.m. regarding the application malfunction.

“Early this morning, we were notified that our school district was mentioned in a non-credible social media post that threatened the schools in our area,” Basham wrote. “We notified families this morning with an app notification and then followed up with an email through the parent portal.”

Basham apologized to families who didn’t receive a notification about the incident and subsequent safety precautions and reassured that a test text will be sent out this week.

“Maries County R-2 will be conducting a notification “test” next week,” she said. “We were advised by the app producer that you should delete and re-download the app if you did not receive the notification this morning. Please follow the directions posted to Facebook to ensure that your settings are set to receive notifications and text messages. The app is the only way that the school can notify you with a text and notification directly to your phone.”

The threat was investigated by MSHP and the sheriff’s office, but no evidence was found and the threat was deemed non-credible.

Basham first reassured parents in her morning notification that the district would monitor the safety of the students and staff. In her evening email to parents, she reiterated the district did not believe there was a threat while sharing that extra precautions were taken.

“At no time did we believe these threats to be credible, however, we worked with law enforcement all day to investigate and increase security in all of our buildings,” she said. “We will continue to use the app notification as our primary source of communication with parents.”

The social media trend started several weeks ago in schools across the Midwest.

“Courage 2 Report has received hundreds of these social media threat reports this week alone,” Basham wrote to parents in her email. “These types of threats cause stress on our students and families, as well as our staff. They also disrupt the learning of our students. Please help us emphasize to all students that making a threat against a public school, whether it occurs on social media, in conversation or in any other format has serious legal and disciplinary consequences.”

Basham advised parents to discuss reporting any threatening posts or communications with the district’s school resource officers, to call local law enforcement or report the issues through MSHP’s Courage 2 Report system.

“Our local law enforcement has declared that they will pursue criminal charges to the full extent of the law in every case possible,” Basham wrote.

If anyone notices a threat on social media, they shouldn’t share it, forward it or repost it as it makes it harder for law enforcement to find the original post and slows the investigation. Threats from “anonymous” social media accounts can also be traced, even if the post and account has been deleted.

Basham encouraged any parents with comments or concerns to reach out to her via email.

“At all times, the safety of the students and staff at Maries County R-2 are our top priority,” Basham wrote. “We will continue to monitor social media activity, investigate real and potential threats, and take every step necessary to ensure a safe school environment.  If your child needs to speak with one of our counselors, please contact your building principal to arrange a visit with a district counselor.”

Maries County R-1 in Vienna also took precautions at both buildings with the help of the Maries County Sheriff’s Office and the Vienna Police Department.

Maries R-1 Superintendent Teresa Messersmith said the school’s administration became aware Friday morning of a TikTok post naming the district and others in the area as possible targets for school shootings. Vienna PD contacted administrators who then let parents and staff know about the threat.

Local law enforcement did a sweep of the school before anyone entered for classes on Friday morning. Administrators walked around the campus throughout the day as part of extra precautions, which also included persistent security checks on exterior doors. Messersmith acknowledged that the threatening posts had been appearing across Missouri throughout the week.

On Friday morning, Messersmith posted a letter to Maries R-1 families and community members on the Vienna School District Facebook page.

“These incidents cause stress on our students and families, as well as our staff,” the letter said. “They also disrupt the learning environment. We appreciate our administrators and local law enforcement partners who work quickly and thoroughly to investigate these threats. However, if it’s age-appropriate, we ask that you talk to your student about the seriousness of making a threat.”

The letter went on to encourage community members to share online threats with administrators and law enforcement instead of reposting or sharing them.

Vienna Police Chief Shannon Thompson said his department became aware of school threat hoaxes earlier this week when the Missouri State Highway Patrol notified local law enforcement agencies of a similar issue in Illinois. Early Friday morning, the Maries County Sheriff’s Office notified him of a reported threat and passed the message along to school administrators.

Vienna PD was following through with the normal school safety walks it does each day classes are in session at Maries R-1. He noted that the sheriff’s office had also sent deputies to the school for support.

The Maries County Sheriff’s Office commented on its investigation into the threat.

“This is an ongoing issue for the last few weeks,” said Maries County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Scott John. “It started in Kansas a couple weeks ago and last week it was in Tennessee.”

John said the threat is being shared on the TikTok social media app.

“We’ve been aware of it and knew it was possible to happen in our area,” John said. “When we saw it last night, we were expecting it.”

Usually credible school threats are against one particular school district, John said.

“These threats are listing eight to 10 schools in one go,” he said. “This last listing included Crawford, Phelps and Maries County schools.”

MCR2-PD’s School Resource Officers Tanner Hinson and Shannon Fannon also worked in conjunction with other law enforcement to investigate the threat on the local level.

The district was not in lock down, but did take extra precautions throughout the day.

“We did have extra presence in the schools today,” John said. “The School Resource Officers in Belle were going to work with BPD to ensure schools are safe. The sheriff’s office worked with the Vienna Police Department to cover both Maries R-1 schools this morning.”

Both the sheriff’s office and Basham encouraged parents and students to speak up and report anything they see that may be deemed as a threat against the schools.

“If you see a social media threat or your student shares something they have heard or seen, please do a Courage 2 Report notification,” Basham said. “This notification goes to the Highway Patrol and the local law enforcement agencies.”

Courage 2 Report is located on the MSHP website.