Park Hill School District officials continue to wrangle with what action to take in wake of a third violence threat written on a school wall in a span of a month.
The most recent incident occurred at Park Hill South High School in Riverside, Mo. — site of the first incident early in February. In notices sent out in various communications, the district advised of a threat found Thursday, Feb. 25 on a girls bathroom wall. The writing warned of a school shooting the following day but nothing else.
No incidents were reported on Friday, Feb. 26.
“It was a great day of learning,” Park Hill director of communications Nicole Kirby said in a conversation with The Citizen.
The district continues to investigate what actions to take to stop these threats and prevent further incidents.
In its notice, officials said they had no reason to believe the threats were real, but Kirby insisted all of them will continue to receive a high level of attention. Kirby previously indicated the incidents could be copycat in nature.
“We treat them the same every time even when there’s no evidence it’s real,” she said. “We are always going to treat it as an absolute threat because our first responsibility is to keep the kids and schools safe.”
The Riverside Police Department was investigating the most recent incident, but the district had yet to issue an update as of The Citizen’s deadline on Tuesday night.
Last month, the Park Hill School District concluded two similar investigations with a pair of juveniles facing petitions in the Juvenile Division of the Platte County Circuit Court for allegedly making terroristic threats with criminal negligence. On Feb. 1, a threat was found on a boys bathroom wall at Park Hill South High School, and an arrest was made the following day. On Feb. 3, a similar threat was found on a wall at Plaza Middle School — a sixth-grade attendance center. The student responsible for that incident came forward the following day.
The district continues to thank the response of local law enforcement agencies to help investigate the threats.