WESTON, WI (WSAU) — The Wausau area was not immune from the recent rash of school threats in the Badger state.
Threatening messages were reported at Horace Mann Middle School in Wausau and the D.C. Everest Middle School in Weston this week. Thankfully, neither threat was credible, but officials with the Everest School District are still praising the students who brought the information forward.
“They brought it to the attention of staff, then staff was able to work with law enforcement to determine what our next steps should be,” said Middle School Principal Jeff McFarland. “I’m super happy that they did the right thing.”
Mountain Bay Metro PD School Resource Officer Jeff Zwicky says the sooner officers can get their hands on the details, the sooner they can determine if the threat is credible. “Get it to the school, get it to the officers so they can investigate it ahead of time and try to get ahead of any [potential threat.] As you know on social media it’s almost impossible to get ahead of [everything,] but we can take every step we can to ensure [the threat] is not credible and ensure safety.”
A threatening statement also forced a soft lockdown in Wisconsin Rapids earlier this week.
The state Office of School Safety says threatening messages against schools have increased this year. Since September 10th the Speak Up, Speak Out tip line has received more than 110 reports of potential school threats. There were a total of 84 tips submitted for the entire 2022-’23 school year.
Threats against schools can be punished as a federal crime. Those found guilty of threatening a school face prison time and the potential for local charges as well.
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