By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
THREE RIVERS — Following two days last week where classes were cancelled due to anonymous threats against schools in Three Rivers, the district’s school board president Monday praised the work done by administrators and police to keep students safe.
Three Rivers Community Schools Board of Education President Erin Nowak’s comments came during Monday’s school board meeting, where she brought up the topic during board member comment.
Her comments addressed the two school threats made by anonymous users over Snapchat that occurred on Wednesday, Sept. 11 and Thursday, Sept. 12. According to the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department, the first threat was reportedly made by a juvenile who lives outside of the Three Rivers city limits, which was identified by Three Rivers police. The alleged suspect in that threat was brought to the Sheriff’s Department by their mother, and “is fully cooperating with the investigation.” At the time, the Sheriff’s Department said there was “no credible threat” to the school district from the Wednesday threat.
The second threat, which Three Rivers Police Chief Scott Boling said was still under investigation, came on the evening of Sept. 12 from another anonymous user, which read, “Yall Really Pushed Me To My Limit All The Jokes and Times I Was Bullied I’m Gonna Show All Of Yall How I Felt Tomorrow Be Safe During Passing Period Tomorrow Guys” [sic]. The second threat caused the district to be closed on Friday, Sept. 13 and the move of the originally-scheduled home football game against Niles to Niles. It is still unknown if any connection between the two threats exists.
On Friday, Sept. 13, the day after the second threat, the district released a statement saying that they had completed a “through independent investigation and threat assessment” which found that “there is no immediate or credible threat” to the district and “continue to take proactive measures to ensure safety should any issue arise.”
On Monday, Nowak’s comments were the first time the threats were mentioned during the meeting. She began by thanking Superintendent Nikki Nash, district administration and police for “making the correct decisions” when it came to keeping kids safe. She also noted that last week’s threats were not isolated to Three Rivers.
“Over the week leading up to our incidences, the Michigan police hotline went from one or two calls a day to 55 calls a day. So, there was an increase in school-related threats across the state,” Nowak said.
Nowak said there are security protocols in place at the district buildings, but noted she still received questions about the details of those protocols. She said that, essentially, those protocols will remain confidential to the general public.
“We can’t share all those plans, because it makes the plans unsafe. There’s a certain amount of confidentiality that those plans have to have, and those that need to know do, and the rest of us are to trust that the plans are in place and the right people are implementing the steps of those plans,” Nowak said. “We compromise the safety of the district by sharing too much information on those.”
Nowak said student wellbeing programs, including partnerships with outside agencies, are in place to offer support to students that need it following the threats.
Many people on social media have been asking what kind of punishment the alleged threat-makers should receive, and Nowak said that will be decided by the proper authorities in due time.
“When it comes to student discipline, we will follow what is written in our community handbook for consequences. All other consequences to those involved in those situations are handled by law enforcement if the subject is to be identified,” Nowak said. “As a district, we are obligated to follow our student handbook and law enforcement takes care of any additional consequences.”
Nowak then encouraged parents to keep a close eye on their children’s social media activity and pay attention to who they interact with.
“Pay attention to who their friends are, pay attention to the types of groups that they’re interacting with. If they’re acting nervous or getting quiet at home, pick up on those cues and talk to your child about what’s going on or what’s bothering them,” Nowak said. “I think a lot of, if the student reporting wasn’t there and there wasn’t calls from concerned parents, too much of the stuff would be unsolved, and we would be in a much worse situation than we are.”
Nowak then said that if residents have information or concerns pertaining to the investigation, they can share them with school administration, law enforcement, or OK2SAY directly, instead of posting on social media.
When it comes to sharing information about the threats and who may have done them, Nowak reiterated that the district is not privy to all information and will not share information that may compromise or otherwise negatively impact any ongoing investigations into the threats.
In closing, Nowak said she was proud of the district’s effort and collaboration with police.
“I’m incredibly pleased with the way the whole team worked together the last couple of days to quell fears and communicate information,” Nowak said. “Many didn’t feel that it was in a timely manner, but it was an appropriate manner when we had the information we needed to and not jumping the gun and putting something out there before we put our ducks in a row.”
Nash then addressed the situation, saying that some of the decisions the district made were “tough.” While she acknowledged that some decisions were made later than some residents wanted, she echoed Nowak in that the district didn’t want to “jump the gun” with anything related to the situation.
“We don’t want to jump the gun and just make a quick decision off the cuff,” Nash said, acknowledging administrators that had sat in meetings with her regarding the situation. “We had quite a conversation, looking at our policies and procedures and all the other things happening in and around us. It definitely is a partnership looking at all the pieces of this puzzle, because it’s not a small puzzle to look at. … We have to look at every single piece to make a decision. Sometimes it’s not going to be timely, and I apologize ahead of time if it’s not, but I’d rather make a decision based on everything that we have so that we know it’s in the best interest of everybody.”
Nash said she looked forward to students being back in school the next day on Tuesday, after Monday’s previously-scheduled day off, and noted that safety of the students is of the utmost importance.
“We take the safety of our students and staff very seriously. We take the threats very seriously, and consequences will be handed down if we do have a suspect. I will support that,” Nash added.
At the end, Board Treasurer Julia Awe chimed in with her thoughts, echoing some of Nash’s statements.
“I’d rather have to apologize to a community for inconveniencing them than having to apologize because we didn’t do our job and protect the kids,” Awe said. “I’d rather say, ‘Sorry guys, we put you out for two days, but your kids are safe.’”
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
