School day normal at Enochs High after rumor of threatened violence
Aside from an increased presence by Modesto police and school district safety officers, all was normal at Enochs High School on Thursday morning, a day after rumors spread on social media that a student or students threatened violence at the campus.
“We determined through a thorough investigation that there wasn’t ever a threat made,” said Modesto Police Department spokeswoman Heather Graves. “We believe that a third party overheard a conversation involving video games and either misunderstood, or whatever the case was, and started talking about it on social media.”
It spread “like wildfire,” Graves said. For a few hours Wednesday night, there were several references on Twitter from students discussing the alleged threat, referring to somebody “shooting up” Enochs.
My plan today is to boost presence as we can at the schools. I’m asking (officers) to, in between calls, spend some extra time at the schools. We want kids and parents to feel safe and parents to feel comfortable bringing their children to school.
Sgt. Steve Stanfield
Modesto Police DepartmentEnochs Principal Deborah Rowe said the talk on social media came to the administration’s attention Wednesday afternoon.
“We contacted the Police Department as soon as we heard,” said Michael Coats, senior director of educational services with Modesto City Schools, “but they were already on it. They had heard from some parents.”
On the Enochs High Facebook page, a message went out Wednesday night stating in part: “A big thank you to our police department, the MPD have completed their investigation and the rumors were determined to be false. ... See you at school tomorrow!”
Rowe said a phone message also went out to all Enochs parents Thursday morning at 6. “And when I talked with a parent this morning, I said that every threat or rumor of a threat, or when someone brings me information, is investigated.”
We have to play these case by case. We were taking our lead from the Modesto police as to what actions we would take.
Michael Coats
Modesto City Schools administrator, on what was happening as the threat rumor was investigatedThough police determined Monday night that there was no credible threat, the department announced that officers would be in the Enochs area and on campus throughout the day. An hour into the school day, there were three police officers and three safety officers present. Normal presence at Enochs is one district safety officer, Rowe said.
She didn’t have attendance figures but said there was no significant drop-off. She pointed to the parking lot being filled as usual. Still, she said, one could assume that at least some of the students who were home “sick” Thursday were actually kept home by concerned parents.
Rowe and Graves both said the incident raises concerns about when and how students use social media. When a student hears, or hears about, a threat or other disturbing talk, “my advice would be to make a report to school staff or police and talk with them first,” Graves said. “Putting something on social media could be detrimental to a case, and also to the rest of the people involved. (A specific student was identified in a tweet as having made the threat.) Putting out information that’s not accurate, people become very upset and want answers, and rightfully so.”
Deke Farrow: 209-578-2327
This story was originally published November 5, 2015 at 11:00 AM with the headline "School day normal at Enochs High after rumor of threatened violence."