Live Oak High School students alerted school officials to a threatening post on a social media site by a fellow classmate Feb. 28.
However, Morgan Hill police immediately responded to the East Main Avenue campus and found there to be “no threat” and confirmed such with an early Wednesday morning post on Facebook.
“Rest easy…MHPD and school officials have thoroughly investigated this issue and there is no threat to the school or campus,” MHPD posted March 1. “It has been taken care of. Thank you.”
School officials also put out word of the incident at Live Oak on the Morgan Hill Unified School District’s Facebook page.
“Yesterday morning, a Live Oak student made an error in judgment in posting a threatening image on Snapchat,” according to the district’s message to its followers. “Officer Jeff Brandon responded quickly to the call and began an investigation into the incident. MHPD found no credible threat and the student is being dealt with.”
Describing it as a “poor decision” by the student with “lasting consequences,” school officials cited an education code for discipline that stated “consequences can include suspension, expulsion, and arrest.”
“If the threat were credible, parents would have been informed immediately,” according to MHUSD. “Unfortunately, social media is taking this incident in a direction that is causing disruption to our students’ education and focusing attention on an issue that is very serious in nature yet not relaying the most important message about the personal responsibility that is associated with decisions to post on social media.”
School officials also requested that parents use this as a teachable moment to their children about the dangers of social media.
“We as adults must model appropriate restraint in the use of social media and the spreading of misleading information and strive to be role models for the future leaders in our community,” the post continues. “Job well done to those Live Oak students who saw the message and immediately let a staff member know so that it could be swiftly dealt with. Students are safe at Live Oak and all safety concerns have been addressed.”
