Posted on 12/17/2021 8:04:18 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
PLATTEVILLE, Wis. — The Platteville School District has closed schools Friday due to a threat.
According to a representative from the school district, schools were closed due “threat of violence.”
The representative was unable to give out any other details.
News 3 Now has reached out to the superintendent of the Platteville School District, but has yet to hear back.
It’s unclear if the decision is related to a nationwide threat circulating on the social media app, TikTok.
This is a developing story. Stay with News 3 Now and Channel 3000 for the latest developments.
Schools, police warn of TikTok trend of videos containing rumors of violence
DCSO: No direct threats to schools in county (Threats now?)
MADISON, Wis. — Officials are warning parents about a TikTok trend of videos containing rumors about threats of school violence nationwide on Friday.
The videos include vague mentions of rumors of violence at schools on December 17 but offer few specifics.
The broad scope, Madison Police Captain Jason Freedman said, does not speak to the threats being credible.
“We have to follow that up and do due diligence on it,” he said. “We also know that it’s very atypical for folks that actually mean to cause harm to broadcast it in this way.”
Both the Dane County Sheriff’s Office and Dodge County Sheriff’s Office said they are not aware of any direct threats within the county but are asking parents and students to report potential threats to their schools.
In emails to parents, the Madison Metropolitan School District and the Oregon School District said they have not received any specific threats but are working with law enforcement.
A subsequent email from Memorial High School Principal Matt Hendrickson said the school got multiple anonymous phone calls around noon on Thursday warning of a vague threat toward the school. The threats were later deemed not credible and are believed to be tied to the TikTok challenge.
“This situation serves as an example of the challenge that inappropriate social media use poses to schools and youth,” Oregon Superintendent Leslie Bergstrom wrote. “Posts about school safety threats, even if they are not credible threats, cause a great deal of stress and anxiety for our students, families, and staff. We ask our families to monitor their student’s social media activity and speak with them about appropriate behavior online.”
Oregon schools may have an extra law enforcement presence Friday due to the challenge, Bergstrom wrote.
The Madison Police Department does not have specific plans to be in schools Friday, but Freedman said all officers have been told about the issue and asked to be more visible near schools.
Freedman also said there is a general heightened concern given recent incidents of violence in Madison schools but that the two are not likely connected.
“There are a lot of guns in the hands of school-aged people and that, unfortunately, there is a greater willingness, it seems, for those folks to use weapons in encounters that become very violent,” he said. “So, in general, yes, but specifically I don’t see those two things being connected.”
Still, police can’t ignore the possibility of violence. That takes away resources that could be used elsewhere, Freedman said.
“In the time that those officers are at a school or looking at this information, it means they can’t be looking or doing something else,” he said. “And that means there’s a trade-off in resources, and that can have real-world implications.”
RELATED: Schools nationwide step up security in response to threats on TikTok
The trend has captured attention across the United States. In a video posted on the social media platform, the sheriff of Lee County, Florida, warned that while the threats may be fake, those who post threats will face real consequences.
“If you think you’re going to post a threat, fake or real, I can promise you you’re not only going to get out of school — because you will — but you’re going to jail,” Sheriff Carmine Marceno said.
@sheriffleeflFake threats, real consequences. If you threaten our schools, you’ll go to JAIL #sheriffcarminemarceno #december17 #schoolthreat #staysafe #dec172021♬ Crystal Castles in the Hood – DJ Vibe Inc. & Max Barbaria
On Twitter, TikTok wrote it “handle(s) even rumored threats with utmost seriousness, which is why we’re working with law enforcement to look into warnings about potential violence at schools even though we have not found evidence of such threats originating or spreading via TikTok.”
We handle even rumored threats with utmost seriousness, which is why we’re working with law enforcement to look into warnings about potential violence at schools even though we have not found evidence of such threats originating or spreading via TikTok.
— TikTokComms (@TikTokComms) December 16, 2021
School threats can be reported on a website set up by the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
This morning on the Bill Handel Show (on KFI-AM in Los Angeles), Bill’s co-hosts were saying they were keeping their kids at home today, just to be safe. Bill agreed that was a good idea.
Here, in Minnesota...
In some schools around metro Des Moines Iowa, majority of students are absent due to TikTok threats.
Gee it’s like kids have figured out they can get school cancelled (vacations) if they make videos with vague threats. Happened in my grandson’s school district as well.
Same here in MA…kids just didn’t show up.
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Should have banned Tik Tok when they had a chance. The gift that keeps giving. I think it's also useful for organizing large smash and grab events. How nice.
A lot of the teachers probably don’t mind having another day off their already massive schedule.
Interesting! Many teachers do testing on Fridays. Today is Friday. Hummmm!!!!
It is interesting that the threat should have popped up in Platteville, a small college town in the southwest corner of Wisconsin. Not particularly known as a hotbed of violence and terrorism, even among the UW-Platteville student body. After all, Platteville is not Madison, and the former state teachers’ normal college does not attract the radical students. The school system and surrounding city are based largely in the agricultural nature of the immediate region, of which I was once a part, as I was once a commuter student to the college there, finally getting my degree in 1973.
I can believe the threat of violence would be much greater in Madison, though. After all, the UW-Madison has been a fertile breeding ground for the Progressive ferment for well over a hundred years now. The anti-war protests of the 1960’s were openly destructive of property and even a few deaths. Now those protesters are the professors there.
—well, well—
—some years ago our alma mater made the news when a janitor discovered that a joke exhibit of teddy bears were “armed” with paring knives—
—the conscientious employee locked up the exhibit and it stayed that way until the real knives were replaced by plastic ones—
Gee, when I waz in HS, these toads used the payphone on campus to call in bomb threats for a day off/skip a test.
Lol...I know me too! The thing is that school personnel weren't as stupid...they knew that 99.99% of the time they were idle threat to get the day off!
It popped up anywhere kids have internet access.
Buddy’s GF’s middle school kid gamed her with an “I’m scared” scam to stay home.
We’re in that terrorist hot bed of North Central WV ......AND, we have Constitutional Carry.
It used to be one or two kids skipping Fridays due to tests. Today, it is entire schools shutting down for these sm threats.
One would think LE could find who started the threats and toss their behinds into juvie.
Well, for starters, we haven’t had any snow yet, so the kids ARE jonesin’ for a Snow Day. ;)
Three Wisconsin districts and one Catholic school have closed, so far.
‘The People’s Republiks of Milwaukeestand and Madistan’ remain open, hoping for victims so they can blame imaginary white supremacists and Trump supporters for this.
A school district here in northwestern Indiana has been caught up in this hoax. The school administration issued a statement last night saying that they had not received any type of warning and that the TikTok letter stating ‘danger on 17 Dec’ was fake.
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