Three school districts in Schuylkill County reportedly received what they’re calling “unsubstantiated threats” on Friday. These threats happened as a trend of swatting incidents at schools across the country continue.
According to a report from Shenandoah Sentinel and statements from the schools, the three districts involved are:
- Shenandoah Valley
- Mahanoy Area
- North Schuylkill
Shenandoah Valley and Mahanoy Area dismissed students early on Friday after the threats were received.
The exact details of those messages hasn’t been revealed. (If you got one of these messages, please email us a screen shot of it at newscanary@gmail.com.)
“Our school and numerous other Pennsylvania schools are receiving unsubstantiated threats via text message,” a letter from Mahanoy Area Superintendent Joie Green reads. “Therefore, out of caution and safety for our students and staff, we are dismissing early today.”
The Sentinel reports Shenandoah Valley also got a similar message and dismissed its students early, too.
In a message posted to the North Schuylkill School District Facebook page, that school also got similar messages. It details that the messages all came from the same phone number, that the number appears to be “computer generated” and originated from Ontario, Canada.
“Administrators, Teachers, Staff, Parents, Students and Prominent People in the community are receiving the text messages,” North Schuylkill reveals in its message.
Unlike Shenandoah Valley and Mahanoy Area, North Schuylkill remained open for the rest of the day.
Several other districts in Pennsylvania also got similar threats on Friday.
The Lionville Middle School was evacuated this morning after what appears to be a swatting call. Lionville MS is part of the Downingtown School District in Exton.
Uwchlan Township Police reported Friday that just after 8 a.m., it received a report of an active shooting incident at Lionville Middle School.
When police arrived at the school a short time later, they say, there was no active shooter situation and the school wasn’t on lockdown, which that threat indicated was happening.
Police there say they were made aware of similar threats being made in surrounding counties in the last 24 hours.
A similar situation unfolded in Berks County at Wilson School District in West Lawn. In that, Spring Township Police received a non-emergency call that a shooting had taken place at Wilson High School.
Students there were dismissed from school at 10 a.m.
On Wednesday, a dozen schools in Colorado were reportedly threatened in a similar manner in alphabetical order. Those threats were also determined to be unfounded.
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