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Palm Beach County, Fla. – A Palm Beach County school district on Wednesday expelled three students for making mass shooting threats this school year.
Even if a student thinks it’s a joke, teachers want students and parents to know that the district takes these threats very seriously.
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School leaders say they are not taking any chances when it comes to school safety. So if a student bullies — even if they think it’s a joke or have the ability to carry it out — the consequences are the same.
Posting or transmitting a threat of a mass shooting or terrorism is a violation of state law and can lead to arrest and expulsion from school.
“The hardest part of my job is getting a student off campus. However, safety comes first. We understand that and we’re going to take that responsibility very seriously,” said Chief Keith Oswald. Equity and Wellness for the School District of Palm Beach County. “We can’t have a system where people walk around and joke about these things, not when we see what’s going on, as we’ve unfortunately seen. [Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School]. We take each of these seriously.”
A WPTV review of Palm Beach County school district expulsion records found three students have been expelled Wednesday for threatening a mass shooting so far this school year.
Four were expelled in the 2021/22 academic year, one in the 2020/21 COVID-19 year and two in the 2019/20 academic year.
“Every threat that comes onto a school campus has to go through a process of a threat assessment team to assess whether or not it’s a high-level threat — whether it’s actionable — or whether it’s a low-level threat,” Oswald said. . “So they go through a process that involves law enforcement, the school administrator, someone with a school counseling background, and someone who knows this student involved.”
In most cases, the expulsion is for one calendar year and the student cannot attend a traditional public school in Palm Beach County.
Instead, they can attend one of the district’s four alternative schools, virtual school, homeschool, or attend a charter school if the charter accepts them.
The district’s alternative schools provide students with not only education, but wraparound services and counseling that they may need.
Whether the student thinks it’s funny or some other issue is going on that requires more in-depth counseling, Oswald said, the school district really wants to address the root cause of the bullying. Those services are offered at alternative schools in the district.
“We’re going to make sure that students get that extra support so that when they complete the expulsion — which is usually one year — they’re in better shape when they go back to their school setting,” Oswald said.
These exclusions also apply to weapons. The School District of Palm Beach County has a zero-tolerance policy for weapons on school campuses, which can result in students being expelled from school.
Six students were expelled Wednesday for bringing weapons onto school campuses.
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“You have to watch your students and the choices they make,” Oswald said. “You have to sit down with your kids and talk, the joke is not a joke. It’s breaking the law. You’re going to get arrested and go to court.”
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