GREENFIELD — Two county juveniles who posted on social media several weeks ago that they planned to do something unspeakable at one of the Greenfield-Central elementary schools Monday, Aug. 15 is still causing concern throughout the community.
The Greenfield-Central juveniles made the post back in mid-July and have since been arrested for the threat, officials from the Greenfield Police Department said.
Still, more confusion was created by posts on social media Monday morning after a larger than normal presence of police was seen at Weston Elementary for extra precaution. That coupled with a re-post of the original threat had many parents concerned to the point of keeping their kids from school.
Officials from the GPD told the Daily Reporter a group on social media, Greenfield Indiana Moms, re-posted the original threat by the juveniles, making many feel like it was a new threat. Officials from the GPD then posted a statement warning people to not re-post the threat, saying they could face criminal charges.
“Parents are sharing the original threat causing people to call the school wondering if it’s another threat,” GPD deputy chief Chuck McMichael said. “We do not want anyone to re-post that original threat … by law that’s intimidation.”
Others also speculated that the two juveniles were already back at school, something they said should not be allowed.
Superintendent Harold Olin told the Daily Reporter he can’t comment on the disciplinary actions taken against the juveniles, adding it would violate the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. However, he did say that district officials have been working closely with the GPD on the matter since the threat was made July 18.
“We’ve had a lot of dialogue with GPD on that in terms of making sure that we’re protecting our kids and really protecting the integrity of our educational institution,” Olin said.
The threat caused a lot of concern and disruption for the school corporation in mid-July, he continued, adding there was also heightened concern when classes started on Aug. 2. Olin acknowledged the recent re-postings created anxiety as well.
In addition to the increased presence of student resource officers at Weston Elementary, Olin said, the school corporation has had school safety specialists with the Indiana Department of Education onsite as well.
“We’ve really included a lot of people in this all to try to ease the anxiety that a careless social media post can create,” he said.
Weston Elementary mom Kaylee Kennedy said she felt secure enough to send her child to school today.
“The one thing about this is things like this don’t normally happened in Greenfield,” she said. “This is not a community where you see a lot of violence, so this kind of thing is not a part of our everyday life where you see these kinds of threats.”
Kennedy noted she’s struggled to feel 100% confident with the administration and the local police department that they will protect the children, but she’s not sure what else she can do.
“I just have to trust that everything is going to be OK,” she said. “We do need schools to be more proactive before things happen.”
She also noted if people knew what kind of charges the juveniles were facing that type of information could go a long way in deterring others who think about threatening a school.
“People are not going to take making these types of statements seriously if there is not a strong punishment,” Kennedy said.
Reporter Mitch Kirk contributed to this report
