Series Of Threats Against W.Va. Schools Spurs Response From Educators, Law Enforcement

West Virginia educators and law enforcement agencies are dealing with a recent series of online threats against local schools. 

One school in Preston County dismissed its students early and another was put under a precautionary hold Thursday morning over a possible threat. The county announced late Thursday that Friday would be a remote learning day to ensure safety.

These are just the latest of more than a dozen threats that have been made this week against local school districts including Cabell County Schools, Kanawha County Schools and Hancock County Schools.

FBI Pittsburgh, the field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigations that oversees the entire state of West Virginia, issued a statement on the situation Wednesday. 

“FBI Pittsburgh stands committed and ready to respond to any immediate threat involving any educational institution 24 hours a day,” the statement reads, in part.

FBI Pittsburgh Facebook

Kevin Rojek, the special agent in charge of FBI Pittsburgh, said law enforcement at all levels are closely coordinating their response to the threats.

“We’re gathering intelligence, sharing information, tracking down leads and working with our state and local partners to identify and mitigate these threats as quickly and efficiently as possible,” he said. “Over the last 48 to 72 hours, we’ve seen upwards of over 10 to 12 online threats associated with schools across the state, and we are working to address these threats. In most cases, we found that these threats are hoaxes.”

Despite later being determined as hoaxes, Rojec said each threat is taken seriously and investigated individually.

“Resources from state, local and federal authorities have to go into every threat. The threats are exigent and need to be addressed immediately,” he said. “For any hoax threat, it takes away resources from other true emergencies that may be occurring. … It’s a major concern that we have.”

Rojek urged the public not to repost threats encountered online. 

“It is not helpful to law enforcement or to the community, as it tends to only raise fears as opposed to mitigating fears,” he said.

Threats have been made both locally and from out of state but are often found to come from juveniles. Rojek said it is crucial for parents, educators and community members to stress the severity of such hoaxes to younger individuals.

“The message to the public is that we take each of these threats seriously,” he said. “To anyone who’s posting these threats with the intent of being a joke or a hoax, … if we identify the individual, we will prosecute them to the full extent of the law at either the state, local and, in some cases, the federal level.”

State Response

Thursday afternoon, Gov. Jim Justice issued a press release stating he has directed the West Virginia Fusion Center to act as the central repository for all threats of violence received at more than 45 schools in West Virginia. Justice also directed state agencies to act in a coordinated manner to diligently investigate social media posts and warnings circulating in communities across the state.  

“We will tenaciously pursue these bad actors and anyone creating an unsafe environment for our children. I just won’t tolerate it. Not for one instant,” Justice said. “Each and every one of these threats will be investigated and all our resources are working together to protect our students, our schools and our communities.”

The West Virginia Department of Homeland Security and the West Virginia Department of Education also conducted a call Thursday with school superintendents from across the state to discuss the threats, ongoing response and safety measures in place at local schools. Homeland Security also assured school leaders that if additional resources are needed in specific counties, the state can provide support and facilitate connections as necessary.

Eddie Campbell, superintendent of Monongalia County Schools, was on the call.

“99.999 percent of these are not credible. They’re intended as a hoax,” he said. “They’re intended to disrupt the school environment, and that’s unfortunate. But because we take them serious, we’re not going to discredit any of them until it is determined that they are not credible threats. That was really reinforced with us today in the call with Homeland Security and the State Superintendent, that they are taking it seriously as well.”

Campbell said hoax threats of this kind are not new to schools in West Virginia or the nation more broadly, and there are well-established protocols in place to deal with them. The state dealt with a similar rash of swatting calls in 2022, and national reporting has indicated a spike in threats of varying severity across the United States since the Apalachee High School shooting in Georgia last week.

“We need to be vigilant, and we used that term today,” Campbell said. “The biggest deterrent that we have, even with the advent of the technology that we use, [is] just the basic vigilance and common sense that we always practice. You know, our schools are always on a soft lockdown. You just can’t walk into one of our schools in Monongalia County without a reason to be there. It’s been like that for years, and it’s intentional.”