Superintendent’s Message 12.17.2021

Dear Warwick Valley Families,

Over the past month, there have been a growing number of general threats levied against the nation’s schools and school districts on social media platforms. We are fully aware of the troubling post that has been shared widely this week on the social media platform TikTok. The post is part of a national TikTok trend and did not originate in our school district. There are no known specific threats against our schools.

We are always assessing the safety of our students and schools. Monitoring social media trends such as this one and communicating with the police are just a couple of our methods of protecting our students and staff. Emergency planning, de-escalation tactics, measuring school climate, threat assessments, supportive school environments, professional development, police presence, and security guards are all strategies that the district continues to provide in all of our schools. In January, we will add a fifth full-time police officer.

When there is a threat – even a general threat to school safety, such as this – our district is in a state of alert. We handle these rumored, widespread threats very seriously and work with the police to look into these threats.

The Warwick Valley Central School District understands that communicating information to our families is important. Rest assured, we will always alert you to credible, specific threats made against our schools or the school district.

We will communicate to you about the threat, what our protocols are to address the threat, and what our students should do. If the situation warrants, we will provide you with updates during the school day. Of course, in working with the police in some instances, there may be specifics that we will not be able to communicate. And, remember that only communications that come from an official school source, such as an email like this from me, a phone call from our automated phone system, or a post on our school district Facebook page, are official communications.

Please continue to speak with your children about this unfortunate trend on social media. Explain to them that WVCSD has zero-tolerance for any person making a threat toward school safety, which is outlined in our district Code of Conduct.

I am personally outraged over these rumors, “jokes,” and malicious acts intended to disrupt students’ education across our country. Please know that if we should have a credible, specific threat to our district, we will alert you to that threat.

Sincerely,

David Leach

Superintendent of Schools