School (in)Security is our bi-weekly briefing on the latest school safety news, moderated by Mark Keierleber. Sign up here.
While vice presidential candidate and Ohio Senator JD Vance has made it clear during his campaign that he is willing to sell false stories to the public, his false claims have caused real panic in schools in his home state.
While Vance and GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump were spreading a vile, racist rumor that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were kidnapping and eating their neighbors’ pets, six local schools were forced to temporarily close after receiving bomb threats. Two area colleges were also forced to go into distance learning after the Republican duo’s disinformation campaign led to real threats of violence.
On Tuesday, officers and bomb-detection dogs were deployed to Springfield Public Schools after dozens of bomb threats were received in the past week alone.
“Our students, staff and school community do not deserve to have their daily schedules disrupted by senseless threats of violence,” said District Superintendent Bob Hill.
Trump and Vance’s false claims prompted a response from Ohio’s Republican Governor Mike DeWine, who said the rumors are damaging and “must stop.” Springfield officials have set up a security tower with surveillance cameras outside City Hall as the candidates continue to repeat the unsubstantiated claims, despite a growing number of bomb threats against city departments — 36 as of Tuesday.
The big picture: Schools are routinely plagued by copycat perpetrators. Now, politically fueled disruptions of schools in Ohio — and a mass shooting at Georgia’s Apalachee High School this month — have reportedly contributed to a national increase in these unnerving events. | Axios
In the news
More about the disinformation campaign: In a speech by Moms for Liberty, Trump made the unsubstantiated claim that schools are operating on transgender youth. Children go to school and “come home a few days later with surgery. The school decides what happens to your child.” | The Guardian
The Federal Communications Commission has opened applications for its $200 million cybersecurity pilot program, which is designed to cover the costs of schools and libraries for firewalls and other data protection services. | FCC
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What They’re Saying: “School districts and libraries across the country have emerged as prime targets for cybercriminals,” FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a press release. “The vulnerabilities in the networks are real — and growing.”
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The big picture: A quarter of young people’s identities will be stolen before they turn 18, as cybercriminals rack up huge debts by preying on minors’ creditworthiness. | Forbes
ByteDance bites back: China’s ByteDance, which operates the teen obsession social media platform TikTok, went before a federal appeals court this week to challenge a law that would force the company to sell the app or risk a nationwide ban over national security concerns. | The New York Times
New Mexico officials have sued social media app Snapchat after an undercover investigation accused the platform of being a major source “for sharing child sexual abuse material” and using an algorithm that “presents children to adult predators.” | Ars Technica
As social media platforms come under fire for their effects on young people’s mental health, Instagram is rolling out “teen accounts” that limit their screen time, the types of content they see and the people they can message. | The Washington Post
A free teletherapy program launched in New York City public schools could misuse students’ information and violate state and federal student privacy laws, data protection advocates say. | Chalkbeat
Exclusively for school (un)security: Education technology company AllHere, which built a much-touted $6 million chatbot for the Los Angeles School District that allegedly violated student privacy, has filed for bankruptcy. | The 74
The Department of Homeland Security has awarded a $450,000 grant to a gun violence research consortium at the Rockefeller Institute for Government to study mass shootings, including those in schools, and develop bystander intervention training to prevent attacks. The training will be piloted in 10 New York school districts. | DHS
Teachers divided over active shooter drills: Less than half of teachers said active shooter drills prepared them for a school shooting, according to a new RAND study. More than two-thirds said the drills had no impact on their perception of campus safety, and only a fifth said they made them feel safer. | RAND
The Charlotte, North Carolina, school district broke the law by withholding documents from leaders detailing incidents of rape and sexual abuse of students, a court ruled. | WBTV
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An Oklahoma school counselor was praised for using a tourniquet to save the life of a teenager who, in an act of anger over bullying, smashed through a school bus window, severing an artery in his right arm. | KOCO
Student suspensions in Colorado have increased 25% since 2018 as schools grapple with children’s mental health issues in the wake of COVID. | The Denver Post
A West Virginia elementary school janitor has been arrested on charges that he kept a gun in his car in the campus parking lot and that an 11-year-old boy threatened to use the weapon to shoot a classmate and himself. | WSAZ
How a poppy seed salad from Costco turned one mom’s life upside down: Inaccurate drug testing has taken a toll on parents across the country, leaving them under surveillance by child protective services and sometimes losing their babies, a study has found. | Exposé
Apalachee High School Spanish teacher describes how she kept her students calm during the deadly campus shooting in Georgia earlier this month: ‘I lied.’ | NPR
ICMYMI @ The 74
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School (in)Security is our bi-weekly briefing on the latest school safety news, moderated by Mark Keierleber. Subscribe here.
