This past week there were more threats made against schools in North Carolina.
On May 23, the Chatham News & Record reported that five students are facing criminal charges for communicating threats of mass violence after making a school shooting threat on social media to Chatham Middle School.
The next day, the Durham Sheriff’s Office announced a “secure custody order” had been issued for a teen wearing a ski mask and who had a rifle in a neighborhood near Northern High School.
The juvenile was known to authorities with the Durham Sheriff’s Office press release stating that “This is the third encounter DCSO has had with the same male juvenile this year. In the previous two instances he was also in possession of firearms.”
On the same day as the Chatham Middle School threat, a Wake County woman was arrested by Wake County Sheriff’s deputies for “a false report concerning mass violence on educational property.”
“On May 19, 2023, just after 3:00 p.m., the Sheriff’s Office received a report of a threat of mass violence against Herbert Akins Middle School. Through a detailed investigation, deputies were able to identify the woman believed to have made the threat,” the Wake County Sheriff’s Office press release said.
The woman was identified as Danielle Symone Ward. According to the press release, she was processed into the Wake County Detention Center and received a $10,000 bond.
The new round of threats in the Triangle area comes after Wake County Sheriff Willie Rowe issued a statement earlier in May that he wants to hire a dedicated school threat investigator.
More To The Story
North Carolina’s largest district has been updating its security plans, which include new visitor rules that will mainly impact parents.
Wake County Public Schools (WCPSS) is not buying metal detectors or adding more school resources officers. Instead, WCPSS is opting to buy a new visitor check-in system to monitor visitors - mainly parents.
The WCPSS board of education received an update during a policy planning session from WCPSS Office of Security Senior Director Russ Smith, who said the plans for the new visitor system will be effective in all schools by July 1st.
These new plans do not require the WCPSS board’s approval.
Smith said that the change would make all visitor rules and access “uniform” even though all 200 schools already have a single entry point for visitors who already have to show an ID and already have video phone systems in place to buzz visitors into the building.
WCPSS Board member Tara Waters had issues with the ID-checking, citing parents who may be illegal aliens and who may not have an official government-issued ID.
The only difference in the new visitor management system appears to be that it will check if visitors are on the sex offender registry, have custody orders, or have some kind of trespass order.
The biggest change is that visitors, again - mainly parents, will now be required to have a staff chaperone when navigating the school unless they are volunteers who have passed a background check. Per the new plan, the principal is the one who assigns a monitor to the parent or person requesting access.
“We want to make sure that they go where they say they’re going,” Smith told the board. “We’re not just giving free roam or free access to the building.”
Anyone visiting the front office to only drop off or pick up an item or to pick up or drop off a child will have to show ID but won’t have to log into the new visitor system.
In emergency situations, all first responders are exempt from the visitor system rules.
So how much is this new visitor system costing and who paid for it?
According to Smith, the system was purchased using the grant money the district received from the North Carolina Center for Safer Schools last year.
Last fall, over $74 million in school safety grants were announced for districts across the state. WCPSS received $659,867.
Smith said the system cost “$532,000” for three years of licensing. That’s nearly 81% of the school safety grant funds the district received.
For security reasons, Smith didn’t offer details on what other security plans are on the table but did indicate at least five issues that were going to be given to the board in a closed session.
The public can access the new security policy document here.