It's a crime: April Fools' Day threats at schools aren't funny, school and law enforcement leaders say

After threats that turned out to be unfounded disrupted the school day Monday at Apex and Garner high schools, law enforcement agencies across the Triangle warned of copycat threats that could be linked to the date.

Monday, April 1, is April Fools Day, widely known for pranks. But a threat against a school is not funny, and law enforcement agencies have been trying to develop a long-term, widespread solution.

Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone says the chaos caused by hoax threats is worrisome to parents and students, and it costs his office time and money.

"It is disruptive to our entire community," he said.

Apex High got two threatening calls around 9 a.m., one to the front desk and the other to the school resource officer. The lockdown lasted around 30 minutes.

Staff on site at Lee County High School endured a lockdown on Monday after a report of an active shooter on campus. It was a teacher workday there and students were not present.

In the western half of the state, law enforcement searched both Kings Mountain and East Lincoln high schools Monday on similar, incorrect reports of an armed person on the school campus. Staff and students at those schools are on spring break and classes are not in session, according to WCNC.

In the past week, threats were reported against Nash Central High School in Rocky Mount and North East Carolina Prep School in Tarboro.

None of the recent threats resulted in any injuries or in any arrests. All through the educational process into disarray.

"Parents are coming to get their children or children are calling their parents to come and get them. Now you’ve lost an entire instructional day," said said Leondus Farrow Jr., assistant superintendent of Nash County Public Schools.

"At the end of the day, we are trying to keep students safe, keep staff safe, and provide a structured learning environment, and when that type of thing happens, it disrupts the learning of the entire school."

Every threat has to be treated as though it is real until proven otherwise, Farrow said.

Even once a threat is shown to be unfounded, he said, "It is a threat that sticks with the teachers, the people in the school, and the citizens."

The crime of knowingly making a false school threat is a federal crime, and those who are caught can spend time in prison. The FBI warns, "It’s not a joke; always think before you post. ... With a thoughtless remark on social media, young people risk starting out their adult lives in prison and forever being labeled a felon."

According to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, the vast majority of threats are made on social media threats or are inappropriate comments that don't result in violence.

Stone said, "What we see often times is that it’s not our local citizens this is coming from. It’s national and it’s international. It makes it really difficult to police."

Data shows schools generally are still one of the safest places for children to be.

That does little to ease the worries of teachers, staff and students like those at Apex who were locked inside classrooms until the hoax was determined on Monday, or of the parents who gathered outside the school waiting to reunite with their children.

Farrow said parents play a role in making schools safer – both physically and psychologically for their children.

"Talk to your children about the seriousness of this," he said. "Talk to people in the community about the seriousness of this. Talk to people about what happens to the school day when a threat like this is made."

Last summer, North Carolina made it a law that every North Carolina public school identify a "threat assessment team" — a group of school- or district-level employees that fields concerns about student behavior and decides how to act on them. The law came without any additional funding or training, though, so the work is often done by people who have other full-time duties in the school.

The threat assessment teams will report annual data on the number of threat assessments conducted, the demographics of the individuals assessed, the number of times they found a threat to be present, actions taken and the results of those actions.

At the beginning of the 2023-24 school year, Department of Public Safety recruited state and local leaders to serve on a Task Force on Safer Schools charged with finding ways to reduce threats and violence.

Apex High School released the following statement:

"We are proud of the manner in which our staff and students responded to the lockdown. We are also grateful to law enforcement and our security team for their swift response. We understand that lockdowns are stressful for students, staff and families, and we appreciate your patience and cooperation. Support is available for any student or staff member who needs additional assistance following this event."