Sumner County Schools and the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office have been made aware of a nationwide social media trend where students post a threat regarding gun violence in schools on social media. It is believed to have originated with TikTok, but it has been seen on Instagram and Facebook as well. The viral threat makes claims that a shooting will occur at a school on Friday, December 17. The threat isn’t specific to a Sumner County School. The original threat is believed to have started as a way for students to skip or be excused from school. There is no known threat to any of our local schools as a result of this TikTok trend.
While we have yet to receive a report tying this social media rumor trend to one of our schools, we wanted to make parents aware of this trend. Sumner County Schools and the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office always take these types of statements seriously and we will thoroughly investigate all of them. These types of statements are very disruptive to our school and may carry serious consequences for anyone making or sharing them in our community including school disciplinary action and charges from law enforcement. Even if the threat isn’t credible, individuals can still be charged according to new state law (TCA 39-16-517).
Please encourage your student to tell their teacher or an administrator if they hear or see something that concerns them about safety at their school. Students sharing or reposting these types of social media messages create more disruption and complicate the investigation into the threat. Please talk to your student about appropriate conduct on social media.
Student and staff safety is our number one priority at Sumner County Schools.
Parents and students are a crucial part of our team to keep our schools safe. Please continue to help us in our efforts to ensure every school is a safe place for our staff and students to work and learn.
