School threats trending in Illinois. How are authorities responding?

Students returned to classrooms only weeks ago, but in that time educators and police across northern Illinois have responded to dozens of school threats, creating what authorities said is an atmosphere of fear they worry could worsen if something isn’t done.

In some cases, young adolescents were arrested and charged with making threats to target schools they attended. In a violent era of mass shootings at schools, social media posts triggering disruptive lockdowns and communication concerns, authorities this week called for a concerted community effort to address the troubling trend.

More than a dozen threats – vague, real or unsubstantiated – have been investigated by northern Illinois law enforcement agencies over the past month, multiple officials have confirmed to Shaw Local News Network. Authorities told Shaw Local that responding to constant threats takes substantial police time, is disruptive to classrooms and, importantly, harmful to students and staff.

On Wednesday, Sycamore police removed a Sycamore Middle School student from the classroom, arrested and charged the student with making a terrorist threat, a Class X felony. Police said the student threatened a school shooting at the middle school in a post on social media platform Snapchat. Police said there was no evidence that a threat was imminent, however.

Asked what he makes of the charge, Sycamore District 427 Superintendent Steve Wilder wrote in an email to Shaw Local that safety will always be a priority of his, but potential threats to schools are a reality educators now have to accept.

“Unfounded threats will always be treated seriously, but they cause a significant disruption in our school days and they create a certain degree of unrest that impacts the atmosphere of the school and our community,” Wilder wrote. “Our hope is that students understand the severity of making threats as a ‘joke’, which has happened from time to time. We ask our parents and community members to both help us teach that lesson, and to continue reporting any potential threat to us for investigation.”

“When fear is the primary emotion it’s really hard for everyone to do what they need to be doing.”

—  DeKalb County Regional Office of Education Superintendent Amanda Christensen

Two Sycamore schools were placed under a brief soft lockdown Sept. 13 after a Chicago man lied to police in a 911 call, authorities said. The man claimed to have seen someone in a Sycamore High School bathroom with a gun to divert police from finding him, according to court records.

DeKalb County Regional Office of Education Superintendent Amanda Christensen said she was unable to comment on the Sycamore student’s charge. She reflected on school threats in the county, however.

“Our school system is stressed and burdened on lots of issues, but this in particular when we’re talking about student safety,” Christensen said. “When fear is the primary emotion it’s really hard for everyone to do what they need to be doing.”

Many of the online threats authorities have investigated in Illinois came days after a 14-year-old allegedly opened fire on his Apalachee High School peers Sept. 3 in Winder, Georgia. It marked the latest mass shooting targeting schoolchildren to spark national gun control debates, conversations on school safety, and the prevalence of shocking gun violence in America.

The shooting killed teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14. Another teacher and eight more students were wounded, with seven of those hit by gunfire, The Associated Press reported.

DeKalb County Sheriff Andy Sullivan said his office sends deputies to assist area law enforcement agencies when they are alerted to similar threats.

“Each of these calls has to be taken absolutely seriously,” Sullivan said. “It’s beyond unfortunate that these types of calls are coming in at all, and lately so frequently, too.”

Online threats trend at northern Illinois schools

Sycamore is not the only school district to deal with threats this school year.

Some reported threats have spanned counties. Police have said others were too general to name a specific school, but prompted precautionary lockdowns.

A wave of hoax threats were reported in Kane County in September, authorities said. On Sept. 13, Streator High School in the Illinois Valley investigated a threat to its students from an outside source. A Crystal Lake man was arrested Aug. 22 and accused of making threats to shoot minors at Crystal Lake South High School, authorities said. Oregon police announced Thursday a threat circulating social media targeting Oregon High School Wednesday was not credible. They later announced the arrest of a 12-year-old boy, who appeared in court Friday.

Many northern Illinois law enforcement officials, including in Sycamore, Coal City, Plainfield, Dixon and Joliet, upped their police presence at schools Sept. 16 for potential threats that had been circulating on social media.

On Friday, Sullivan confirmed his office had investigated a social media post regarding a potential school shooting referencing Indian Creek schools but found the schools in the post referred to Georgia schools, not Indian Creek School District 425.

Joliet Police announced Tuesday they arrested a third preteen for posting threats against schools online. The boy, 12, a 12-year-old girl and a third girl, 14, all were arrested this week in Joliet.

Grundy and Kendall Regional Office of Education Superintendent Chris Mehochko said his region has experienced at least three, and possibly more instances of threats to schools so far this school year.

A Yorkville student was charged with disorderly conduct for writing a threat in a bathroom, and Plano police investigated a threat a day after Joliet police addressed a school threat, WSPY News reported.

Mehochko said a lot of the districts in his region have their own security teams that monitor school facilities.

“They’re well aware of what’s going on,” Mehochko said. “It’s really disappointing. Basically what we have seen in our experience, and based on what our law enforcement officials are saying, a lot of our situations are copy cat threats.”

What can be done?

Even if police determine a threat is a hoax, the investigation, announcements and constant school lockdowns take their toll, officials said.

DeKalb Police Chief David Byrd, whose department deemed a shooting threat at DeKalb’s Huntley Middle School not credible on Sept. 10, said he’s seen a variety of motives for school threats. He said those motives include jokes and social media challenges.

“It really needs to stop,” Byrd said. “This is extremely important, that we reduce the number of threats like this that come into the school system or to the police department because it requires an extreme amount of resources to assess and vet these situations.”

DeKalb parent Lina Harris, who has four children in the district, attended Tuesday’s school board meeting to voice her concerns for their safety. She told the school board her children “felt very unsafe to even attend school” and are struggling with anxiety and being able to focus on their schoolwork.

Sycamore Police Chief Jim Winters said it’s important for police to treat every threat seriously and take precautions to keep kids safe. He said authorities were able to respond the way they did Wednesday because people reported the Snapchat post to school staff, who told police.

Winters said the adage “If you see something, say something” is ever more paramount these days.

“There has to be a concerted effort by parents and administrators of the school and community members,” Winters said. “It’s not just the police, but everyone needs to take it as their personal responsibility. If they hear something, see a student or individual that says something or acts in a certain way, that they have to tell someone about it.”

After 28 years working in education, Wilder said he can’t remember a time before now where he’s experienced consecutive school days with multiple threats to public safety.

“I was still a teacher at the time when Columbine occurred,” Wilder said. “I remember that very vividly, and other events like that over the years. It’s really changed the face of what we do in schools. We’ve always been conscious about keeping students safe, but the increase in violence like that has really caused us to be more aware of what’s going on in our schools when posts happen like this one.”

Between 2000 and 2022, 328 people were killed or wounded in active shooter incidents at preprimary, elementary, and secondary education institutions, as well at school board meetings, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Wilder said his administration takes every reported threat “seriously because the safety of students and staff are always a priority.” He said the concerns spread beyond the education realm.

“It’s really changed what we do but at the end of the day our focus is still the same: the safety of our students, and our staff and our community,” Wilder said.

As a parent, Mehochko said the uptick in threats to school safety has been disappointing and scary to observe. He said he feels confident in how his districts have handled threats this school year, however.

Although not a big social media user, Mehochko said he thinks educators need to continue to teach students how to use social media appropriately.

“As an adult, I think a lot of us are kind of just trying to wrap our brain around how much it’s used from kids and how much kids depend on it,” he said. “And that could be good and that could be bad, and this particular situation is obviously bad. So we need to address that and continue to teach kids to be healthy when they’re using social media.”

Shaw Local reporter Megann Horstead and editor Kelsey Rettke contributed.