STATESVILLE, N.C. — School districts in the Charlotte region were on high alert Friday after a viral TikTok challenge urged students to call in threats of violence.
While Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) haven't confirmed if they received any school threats Friday, Iredell-Statesville Schools' Superintendent Dr. Jeff James said administrators already disciplined two students for making threats that they later deemed to be not credible.
James said 25% of his district’s 21,000 students were absent Friday.
“At that point, the rest of the day is not going to be about education," James said. "We'll go through the motions, but you know, as a teacher, if half of your class is out, you're going to go back and re-teach what you taught."
Brooke Hostelter chose to send her daughter to her CMS middle school Friday.
"I've been nervous all day; haven’t been able to work," Hostetler said. "I could've kept her home, but it is a national threat, and I can't keep her home every time there's a threat."
UNC Charlotte Associate Professor Anita Blanchard studies psychology and organization science, and she's also the mother of three CMS students.
"Being able to choose, perceived control, is very important for mental health," Blanchard said. "They were aware if, at any point, they did not want to go to school or they wanted me to pick them up, I would because that's the healthiest thing for them to do."
While Hostetler allowed her daughter to go to school, she was eagerly counting down the hours till the dismissal bell.
"She rides the bus so I might just go there and pick her up right away," Hostetler said. "It'll be good once I get her, and the day's over."
With stress levels already soaring from the effects of the pandemic and a rash of hoax threats following a deadly school shooting in Michigan on Nov. 30, districts nationwide said they were taking precautions out of an abundance of caution.
The posts circulating online said schools would face shooting and bomb threats Friday. Law enforcement agencies said there did not appear to be a credible threat, but several districts opted to cancel classes for the day including Carson City, Nevada; Polk County, Georgia; and several Pittsburgh-area school systems.
Some other districts increased security staffing levels and limited where students could go inside school buildings. More than a half dozen school districts in the Houston, Texas area told middle and high school students to leave their backpacks at home Friday in response to the TikTok posts, though none of the districts had received credible threats, officials said.
In a tweet, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it did not “have any information indicating any specific, credible threats to schools but recommends communities remain alert."
TikTok has said it is working with law enforcement to look into the warnings. In Twitter posts on Friday, the company said it had not found content promoting violence at schools but found videos discussing the rumor and warning others to stay safe.
“Local authorities, the FBI, and DHS have confirmed there’s no credible threat, so we’re working to remove alarmist warnings that violate our misinformation policy,” the company said.
The post most widely associated with Friday’s fears is “not really a threat, it’s just saying they are hearing this thing is happening,” said Justin Patchin, a criminal justice professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center.
How to respond to that presents a dilemma both to TikTok and educators, especially since many of the previous panics about TikTok challenges have proven to be bogus and acknowledging them can make them more influential.
“It definitely puts schools in a tough spot,” said Patchin, whose center has worked with TikTok and other social media companies in the past to research online bullying. “There are these potential threats they can’t ignore but they also can’t shut down schools every time someone posts a generalized threat on social media.”
On Friday, CMS sent a voice message to parents confirming more details about when new security measures would be implemented. Clear backpacks will be handed out to high school students in January 2022, and the "See Something, Say Something" app will roll out the week of January 25. More security personnel are also being hired.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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