Metro Nashville Public Schools is not even halfway through the school year, and already dozens of teens have been arrested for threatening schools.
To better understand why students are doing this, News 2 went to the person who has seen it all in Davidson County: juvenile court Judge Sheila Calloway.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Metro Nashville Public Schools is not even halfway through the school year, and already dozens of teens have been arrested for threatening schools.
To better understand why students are doing this, News 2 went to the person who has seen it all in Davidson County: juvenile court Judge Sheila Calloway.
“We have to — every time — take these threats seriously,” Calloway said.
One of the latest threats came out of High Road School of Nashville after a 17-year-old student sent messages threatening to “shoot up the school,” according to police.
“They absolutely don’t understand what they’re doing,” Calloway added. “They don’t understand how serious that can be. They’re not really thinking about all of the trauma our community has suffered from true school violence.”
The threat at High Road School of Nashville is one of nearly a dozen threats that have been made against a Metro Public School since August. Each one has been made by a student and has threatened violence. Each one also ended up before Calloway.
“I think most youth, when they hit the juvenile court doors, and realize, ‘Oh, this is more than what I thought it was going to be,’ I think there definitely is a change of behavior and change of attitude,” Calloway said.
However, with more teens appearing before her for the same reason, News 2 asked Calloway why that’s been the case. Calloway said that she had heard a wide range of reasons why students have made threats.
“It’s anything from ‘I was being bullied and didn’t know how to respond,'” Calloway said. “‘I didn’t want to take a test’, ‘I wasn’t ready for my homework’, ‘I was not wanting to go to school today.'”
An update to Tennessee law has upgraded the penalty for threatening mass violence on school property, from a misdemeanor to a Class E felony. Calloway explained that it’s vital for parents to talk to their children before a message or post lands them in serious trouble.
“It’s super important that we all make sure we’re checking our children’s social media,” Calloway said. “That we are talking to our child, that we are educating our children on how serious this can be and what consequences they could suffer if they were to [make] a school threat.”
With weeks left in the first half of the school year, the Metro Nashville Police Department has reminded parents and their children that threats against schools are taken seriously and those responsible, will be prosecuted once identified.