Clarksville, TN – The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Clarksville Police Department and the Clarksville Montgomery County School System all work together to ensure the safety of the students and staff at all forty schools.
Law enforcement and school system officials fully investigate all threats levied against any school, or it’s students and faculty.
Every threat is taken seriously and even after an investigation indicates that a threat is not credible, additional law enforcement or other resources are deployed to those schools to help ensure the safety of the school and everyone inside.
In the past week, three threats against three different CMCSS schools have been reported to law enforcement and school officials:
- Officials were made aware of a threat against Northeast High School that was circulating on social media. The threat was investigated by the Sheriff’s Office and school officials. It was deemed not credible and stemmed from a misinterpretation of an Instagram conversation regarding a personal dispute between two students.
- Officials were made aware of a threat against Northwest High School circulating on social media. That threat was again investigated by the Sheriff’s Office and school officials. It was also deemed not credible and stemmed from a student erroneously overhearing a conversation concerning an altercation that occurred between two students.
- Officials were made aware of a threat against West Creek High School from a student. The threat was investigated by the Sheriff’s Office, Clarksville Police Department, and school officials. The student was overheard making threats. A welfare check was conducted at the student’s home, and with the assistance of the parents of the student, illegal items were discovered in the student’s room. That juvenile was taken into custody and was charged with disorderly conduct for making the alleged statements and for possession of the illegal items. No weapons were brought on school grounds.
“These threats have become more numerous and are not only very disruptive to law enforcement and CMCSS staff, but also to students and parents of those students attending the school,” said Montgomery County Sheriff John Fuson.
“Every threat that we become aware of is investigated to the fullest. We have been very successful in locating the source of multiple threats against our schools in the past and when we do locate the culprit, any and everybody involved will be charged and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Fuson added.
“Anytime a threat of violence has been brought to our attention, we take it seriously and move forward to take the necessary action. Unfortunately, since the most recent situation in Marshall County, Kentucky, and the use of social media, there has been an uptick of this type of activity nation-wide. I cannot state it enough; this is not a joke, nor a laughing matter. This has caused some unrest. When threats like this occur, law enforcement and administration will work together to get to the bottom of it. It is important that students understand that this is not acceptable behavior and we will be vigilant in finding individuals responsible,” said Millard House, Director of Schools.
