CHESAPEAKE, Va. - Parents of students at Great Bridge High School are raising concerns after social media posts containing threats from a student started circulating.
In a letter sent to parents on Tuesday, the principal of Great Bridge High School says the student who made threatening posts through social media is not allowed to come back to school.
But, many parents are wondering why the school's response took so long.
News 3 reached out to both Chesapeake Public Schools and Chesapeake Police on Monday when the posts started circulating. CPS said they were aware of the posts but that no threat had been made to the school. Chesapeake Police said they had heightened security at the school as a precaution.
Sharon Bley has a son who is a Junior at Great Bridge High School. She did not let him go to any classes Tuesday but she was alerted by the school that there would be a police presence on campus after inappropriate messages were shared through a student’s social media.
Sharon said she saw the videos and pictures circulating around and did not feel comfortable letting her son go to school.
“The guy is ingesting some sort of drug. Talking about how he didn’t like a former student that went to Great Bridge. The next one that I saw was the guy shooting a gun, and he was muffled when he said something,” says Bley.
She says the automated message from the school board that alerted parents of the situation was vague and she did not have enough information as to what was going on.
“We have to call the school and all they’re saying is the guy wasn’t in school yesterday and he’s not going to be in school in the foreseeable future. But, we have no answers. No answers as to what did you do to protect our children,” says Bley.
In the letter sent to parents, the school says “never was there a threat within [the] school building.”
The letter goes on to say, “Our school is working closely with police to ensure the safety of our students.”
But for parents like Sharon, she says information like this not being shared right away creates panic and confusion—especially when it comes to the safety of her son.
“We want him to have the best education possible, but he’s not going to get the best education possible if he can’t go to school and feel safe,” says Bley.
Chesapeake Police say no arrests have been made. This is still an on-going investigation.
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