We live in scary times. Few would dispute this. Then again, our nation was founded by people who survived a terrifying ocean voyage in wooden ships, encountered hostile opposition as they tried to tame what would become the United States and overcame diseases and unbelieveable hardships that often claimed the lives of people before they reached their teenage years. Death was a constant companion.
So everything in perspective.
But the founders of this world centuries ago could not have foreseen the pitfalls people would face today. They couldn’t know that children could gain such easy access to firearms or other weapons and without blinking take a human life. They never predicted an information mechanism that could deliver news to millions — even billions — of people all at once. Jefferson probably never considered that sometimes this news could be riddled with rumors or inaccurate messages that could be accepted as fact. Or that there would be so much of it available that people would have to accept nearly anything they see at face value because to ignore a story that turns out to be true could have unpseakable consequences.
All of this brings us to what happened late last night and today ta Woodlawn Middle School in Mebane where a fight between students on Thursday escalated into widespread talk on social media that something far worse would unfold on the campus on Friday. Here’s a message we received by email from a parent Thursday after our reporters had left for the night.
I would like my name left PRIVATE, but I am wanting to know how you the people who truly REPORT the news, how would you feel if when checking your facebook, the first thing you see is:
“fyi ALL PARENTS … There has been direct threat by a woodlawn student that come from a school for troubled boys to shoot another boy at woodlawn. police are tracking this and will have extra security tomorrow but have not bothered to ROBO CALL all PARENTS about the matter but they sure call if my kid owes 50 cent at lunch or there is a fundraiser”.
The principal is aware of the situation, the police are aware of the situation, in fact it was stated directly, “Mebane pd is even saying do not send kids to school!”.
Where is the logic in this?? The Alamance Burlington School System needs to be blown out of the water and reprimanded for such behavior. Needless to say, my child is going nowhere tomorrow, and I dare the school system to say it is an unexcused absence!
From what we can gather, the scary Facebook message cited above took on a multitude of lives late last night and Friday morning. A caller reached a member of our copydesk after midnight to inform us of it. Dozens of callers rang our office first thing Friday morning. They did the same to the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office and the Mebane Police Department — the latter had no jurisdiction in the case. Parents truly became worried when they saw the normal security measures in place at the school as opposed to a large county law enforcement presence they anticipated. They believe neither the sheriff’s office nor school system were taking matter seriously enough. Of course, one parent told us had they seen a big law enforcement presence they would’ve been “scared to death.”
Damned if you do and damned if you don’t. And a commenter later informed me that there was most certainly more police on campus today.
Law enforcement officials told us Friday morning they could not verify a credible threat. The school system says the same. Our reporter Roselee Papandrea tried to get information to our readers as quickly as possible. After talking to sheriff’s office spokesman Randy Jones she posted a story on our website. We also posted updated information on Facebook and Twitter.
But the stories still persist and grow larger. The threat rumors are having a domino affect and spreading to other schools. Local authorities and the traditional media are being a little overwhelmed by the power of social media to spark action perhaps even when the information isn’t the most reliable.
It’s understandable for parents to become so concerned. As I mentioned already we live in scary times that are in many ways of our own making. If the school system knew of this information explosion via Facebook last night would it have been wise to handle it with the robo calls suggested by the parent cited earlier — or even via its own Facebook posts? Is it possible that could’ve made the situtaion even worse?
It’s hard to know for sure. Such is the landscape now. One thing is pretty obvious, the school system can’t handle things the way it always has. It should look to adapt to social media the way its customers already have.
We’ll be following this all day. Our reporter Roselee Papandrea is covering the story and would welcome comments with parents. Contact her by email at rpapandrea@thetimesnews.com or by calling 506-3045. Follow her on Twitter @tnroselee.
I’d like to be able to say that you can’t believe everything you read on Facebook and leave it at that. But in this day and age it’s not that simple — not at all.
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Not sure why you think there was not a large police presence. we usually have ONE SRO but there were about 5 cops that I SAW and just as many police cars on campus. That is a definate increased presence
My mistake then. A parent told us there was only one SRO. I’ll update this later.
“Parents truly became worried when they saw the normal security measures in place at the school as opposed to a large county law enforcement presence they anticipated.”
This is actually not true. There was a *significant* Sheriff Dept presence at the schools. Four sheriff cars/SUVs were stationed on all roads leading to the Eastern/Woodlawn Campus, plus a fifth parked in the lot between the school, and the resource officers were clearly present that the school entrances. That constitutes a large presence and even if the threat was not a big as many thought it to be, hats off to the Sheriff’s Dept for having a presence out there on a day many parents were uneasy given the lack of official information.
Thanks Mike . I just updated that. A couple of parents were positive there was just the one SRO. I have updated to reflect what you and Brandy are saying. And thanks for doing so.
OK wait – so you’re saying you published information based on what one parent said in a story that was critical of parents communicating unconfirmed information?
Ha, true. There will always be conflicting reports in the media business. The difference is, I will try to correct it. Had more than one — but probably not all were even there. Information travels in strange ways. Thanks.
I have to say I was alarmed as my daughter told me on the way to Southern High School this am.By this time other schools were being mentioned on fb and twitter(I am not a tweeter) Nothing should be taken for granted this day and time. It would have been nice to get a call or contact about this. I was assured by office staff that everything was okay and precautions were taken. I really wish chargers could be filled for the person that createdthe havack.
Well here is what bothers me, everyone is trying to hide mistakes that were made so things are being incorrectly reported.
The day before, the school had these boys in the office due to threats, and another student stating they heard the boy say he was bringing a gun to shoot the other boy.
The boys admitted to arguing and planning a fight but then told the principal all was ok to avoid trouble. Per POLICY any mention of a weapon should have been reported, but the school did NOT report to their own SRO, she found out from a student later. The school did not contact ACSO or the parents of the children involved.
This is further proof the ACSO is wrong about “unverified” reports. I guess the school is not being honest with them either. No one contacted the “targeted” childs parents. I talked to them last night around 9 pm. They called the ACSO and bascially were shrugged off. So of course the boys accused will deny the actions. Before anyone states or reports “unverified” shouldn’t the child and parent be spoken to that was the target?
Furthermore, this morning the parent went to school and they admitted they messed up and should have reported this incident and maybe things would not have gone so far.
Oh and as far as ACSO clearing the boys becuase they found nothing on Facebook, well again, here is why, THE THREATS WERE NEVER MADE ON FACEBOOK. They were made at school. A few kids heard it, the boys were called into the office, other kdis found out, so the other kids were the ones posting it on facebook all chattering about it. So I knew to start with there would be nothing, however if they looked back a few weeks, they would see where the “ringleader” is on someone else’s wall talking smack about the “targeted” boy being gay. Just saying… I am not really thrilled about how ACSO and ABSS have not properly shared info so they are chalking this up to rumors gone wild.
And for the sheriff’s office to tell the kids in a “stern” manner they had BETTER NOT repeat this to anyone, last night while they were down there telling their stories, well, some parents shoudl have spoke up and said no problem, because WE will be the ones making sure other parents are aware.
Too many kids are dying because things like this are ignored or swept under the rug. What if I had not went to the parents of the child last night and they had sent their kid to school today and the boy did bring that gun, and someone did die. What would the school have done then?
By the way, this is another direct quote from the “ringleader” of this situation off of his facebook… so even though the threats the ACSO were looking for were not there, there still were threats to be found
“Eu opie this kid told me that this dude I hate might be comen to our school if he do we beaten his a$$ or sum”
** I changed the letters in the curse word so your filter did not kick me out. Here is another post of his but I am blocking the childs name he is talking about, and it is the boy he threatened yesterday that all this is over:
“john doe is so gay!!!!”
**again, I insterted “john doe” he actually states the name of the boy this whole ordeal is surrounding
Thanks for not using the information you mentioned. It’s much appreciated.