Joshua high schools have more security after social media threats, school district says
Joshua Independent School District said that an online threat has caused its high schools to implement additional security measures Thursday.
An email sent to Joshua High, New Horizon High and Ninth Grade Campus families didn’t specify what the social media post said, but a school district official said law enforcement believes the threats were made from an outside source.
“We are treating these threats as credible threats and acting with the utmost safety and security for our students and staff; however, we do believe these threats are being made from someone outside of Joshua ISD possibly even outside of the state of Texas,” Superintendent Fran Marek said. “Please know that this does not reduce our attention or prevention with this serious situation.”
The letter to parents added that all of the district’s high schools would be put on a “secure hold.”
“This means [students] will not travel between campuses,” Marek said. “We also have Joshua ISD Police actively present in these buildings today. The Joshua ISD Police Department, City of Joshua Police Department and Johnson County Sheriff’s Office are all actively patrolling the outside perimeters of these three campuses today.”
The school district said it will continue to monitor the threats, and if there’s any need for additional security measures, they would be implemented and parents would be notified.
“I know as a parent this brings tremendous concern to you, and I want to assure you that our students are ‘all’ our children, and we will do everything in our power to keep them safe,” Marek said.
A spokesperson from the school district later added that any student who was absent Thursday will be marked as “excused.”
School district officials will continue to monitor the source and validity of the threat, which they clarified was made on Snapchat, and they will evaluate whether the schools “will need to extend our procedures to tomorrow,” they said Thursday afternoon.
This story was originally published October 28, 2021 at 9:28 AM.
