DeKalb County Director of Schools Patrick Cripps had a warning at last Thursday’s School Board meeting that any threat made toward a DeKalb school, even if it is a joke or prank, will not be tolerated and students will face full legal consequences.

“This is a message for parents and students alike,” Director Cripps said during the meeting. “We are asking you, in light of the recent tragedy of the school shooting at Covenant, that parents sit down and talk with their kids about the seriousness of any threats that they may make on social media, at school during school time, or outside of school because they will be dealt with as a school issue due to it involving the safety of our students, our faculty and staff.”

“We have talked to Judge (Brandon) Cox, Sheriff (Patrick) Ray and our SROs and had meetings about safety because we can’t take threats lightly. It’s very serious and it’s important that we talk to our children and students about the seriousness of those actions (threats) because there will be consequences and those consequences will be severe,” Director Cripps continued.

“We don’t ever know the mindset of someone when they make a threat and I think it is imperative that parents and students understand that if you make threats, (threatening) comments on social media, or look things up on your computer or phone (perceived as threatening), those will be dealt with and we will punish students for making those threats at the school level and through the judicial system.”

“It’s our goal to send every kid home safely every day,” Cripps continued. “We can’t play mind readers so I beg kids, if they have something going on in their life they are struggling with that they reach out to their parents, faculty, staff, or other adults to get help.”

“Parents, we ask that you reach out to us and allow us to help so that we can prevent a tragedy from happening. It’s a different world we are living in and I want to reiterate that threats, even if it is said off the cuff, will be taken seriously and it will be dealt with and the punishment for students may seem harsh to parents but when it (threats) strikes fear in a community and within a school it has to be addressed.”

“Again, parents I ask that you sit down and talk with your students and we will be sending out reminder messages from our schools asking you to do that and if you should see or hear anything (threatening), please let us know so that hopefully we can help someone before they make a decision that they can never take back. Taking someone’s like, you can’t take back. There is tragedy on both sides of that so I just ask for your help as a community to keep our schools safe,” said Director Cripps.

“This community is lucky because if you go to a lot of surrounding communities, not everyone has an SRO in every building. Kudos to this county because the county commission, sheriff’s department, and school board pay for our SROs (one at each of the five schools) out of their budgets and it’s all about trying to keep our schools safe. We are thankful for our SROs and everyone who helps fund those,” added Director Cripps.

Also during the meeting, Director Cripps recognized Emma Jean Martin, a veteran teacher of 44 years, who passed away in February. “We appreciate her service and our prayers are with her family,” he said.