Dear Parents:
This letter is being sent to provide you with accurate information, discourage rumors, and ask for your assistance. As you are aware, the nation has seen a number of threats and rumored threats of violence to schools after the horrific tragedy that occurred in Florida last week.
These recent events have heightened everyone’s concern for the safety of our students and staff. We want to assure you that the safety of our students and staff is our highest priority, and we have taken additional safety precautions, including an increased presence of law enforcement, to help set minds at ease. Fortunately, the school district has not had the need to put any school on lockdown. If there is ever a need to put one of our schools on lockdown, parents will be notified through our SSD Alert messaging system. Parents can sign up to receive these messages by emailing Webmaster@sheridanschools.org.
There were a couple rumors circulating on social media that affected our district yesterday, Feb. 21. One involved a rumor of a “hit list” found at SJHS. We sent out an alert yesterday evening to assure parents that this was investigated by the district and law enforcement, and it was found to be untrue. Later in the evening, there was a post circulating nationwide about a threat to “SHS” which caused alarm to high schools across the nation beginning with the letter “S”. Law enforcement from multiple communities have investigated this post and have reported it to be false.
We will not tolerate threats of any nature, especially when they continually disrupt student learning due to fear and the countless hours of work to determine their validity. We take any threats or rumors of threats very seriously, and will continue to work with law enforcement to investigate them and implement the appropriate disciplinary actions as necessary.
We need to come together as a community of students, parents, and school personnel to end this disruption of learning. Please talk to your children about the seriousness of threats in today’s society. Ask them to notify law enforcement and school personnel should they hear of any planned or potential disruptive behavior or if they notice any suspicious activities.
Sincerely,
SSD Communications