RAPID CITY, S.D. (KELO) –Social media threats against schools are becoming an almost daily occurrence in South Dakota.
Some districts have responded to multiple threats in just the last few weeks.
When there’s a threat on social media, Rapid City Area Schools (RCAS) go on secure status to make sure kids and staff members are safe.
“When we say secure status that means all the doors are locked, nobody can come in, nobody can go out. All the classroom doors are also locked. The only people that can get into the classroom doors are the school staff and law enforcement officers,” Deputy Sheriff Josh Kunde said.
Working with the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, RCAS limits the information releases, because the status is ever changing in these investigations.
“We take a very proactive approach to every potential threat or situation that could cause harm in our school setting. And we investigate it, we coordinate with law enforcement and we act on the information that we have,” Acting Superintendent Dr. Cory Strasser said.
Each situation is different and requires an investigation to make sure each school in the district is safe to continue with the school day.
“Pretty secure, we have two always on duty SRO’s here at Stevens. We also have six security officers. One’s always out in the car in the parking lot just checking everything out and we’ve got the other five monitoring the hallways,” Kunde said.
“Between our SRO’s and our security staff, that is one of the main purposes is to be able to connect with kids. And have another face and it creates a level of trust and feeling of safety in the school settings,” Strasser said.
And safety is everyone’s top priority.
If you or someone you know has any information on potential threats involving your schools, rather than sharing them online, it’s best to go directly to local authorities.
