LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Lubbock ISD responded to a threat made against one of its middle school campuses Thursday.
While the threat was deemed false, Brian Ellyson Director of student and parent resolution for the district said they take every report seriously.
“You know that’s our job, is to make sure our kids are educated and our kids are safe,” Ellyson said.
The recent threat made against Atkins Middle School came during a conversation between one of its students and another from Monterey. Although the Lubbock ISD Police Department did not find evidence the threat was credible, Chief Eric Tijerina says the department is always on standby for any threat.
District response protocol
“We will respond immediately, once we’re on campus, we will coordinate with administration there, we will assess if there’s any immediate risk to the students at that time, and then we will start investigating the threat,” Tijerina said.
Ellyson said once a threat is known, there’s a line of communication between the district, its officers and parents.
“We have to work with our law enforcement side and we have to work with our communications department,” Ellyson said. “Once our administrators have all of the details and as much of the facts as they possibly can, then they’re notifying the parents that are directly involved as soon as they possibly can.”
Threat assessment process
Ellyson said part of the threat investigation involves a threat assessment to ensure the safety of students and staff.
“That’s gonna help us gauge whether it’s a low level, moderate or high level threat, and that involves the family members,” Ellyson said. “So making sure the parents are aware, that a, the threat was made and b, that we’re following that assessment, and that’s a state standard, state requires that every threat, a threat assessment is conducted.”
Zero tolerance policy
The district has a zero-tolerance policy for threats made against any school. Tijerina said charges can and will be pressed.
“There’s a couple of charges we use a lot on threats: one of them is terroristic threat, it’s from the Texas penal code,” Tejerina said. “The other one is from the Texas educational code and that is threat to exhibit, if that threat involves some form of firearm or some sort of threat to bring a firearm to school.”
Tijerina asks parents to keep their contact information updated on a yearly basis to ensure they always have access to updates the district publishes.
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