I’m Dr. Jon Prince, Superintendent of St. Lucie Public Schools sharing important information about school threats and school safety.
I wanted to speak to you today as a parent of a St. Lucie Public School student and the husband of a St. Lucie Public school teacher, and not as my role as your Superintendent of Schools. I want to reassure you our students are safe and my message to you is framed by my most important role, which is that of a parent and husband.
As you know, we are seeing an uptick in social media threats that turn out to be hoaxes, However, we do take each and every one of them seriously. There are instances where we even lock our schools down immediately if we have information that a child, or one of our adults, could be in harm’s way. The safety of our children, and our teachers and support staff who care for them daily, are at the forefront of every decision we make.
These types of incidents, fueled by rumor, are happening nationwide, and they are certainly unnerving to our students, our staff, and our parents. We work extremely closely with law enforcement to chase down every tip, lead and rumor, to ensure the safety of our kids.
What we ask our families and students to do is to report any threat to authorities or report them through Fortify Florida, which can be found on our website, rather than continue to circulate these threats on social media. Unfortunately, the same hoaxes just get recirculated over and over on social media, perpetuating fear and concern in our communities.
It is vital that we all work together to teach our students that “See Something, Say Something” means that when you witness or hear a direct threat that you report it immediately. Spreading rumors or repeating things over and over again as part of the rumor mill only reinforces the anxiety we are trying to stop.
The School District will take immediate disciplinary action to address false reports and work with law enforcement to prosecute perpetrators of hoaxes to the extent of what the law allows.
Each of our schools has their own School Resource Deputy on campus at all times to protect our safety. All of our high schools have two Deputies, and St. Lucie Public Schools has 18 certified law enforcement officers we deploy randomly as needed as an extra layer of security.
I want to remind our families that our school district proactively deploys additional law enforcement and security to support our schools at different sites daily. Our intention is to put minds at ease, and not to increase anxiety with increased law enforcement presence. You should never assume that an increased law enforcement presence means anything other than just providing additional support on a rotational basis, and not that anything dangerous is occurring.
Safety is our highest priority, and we will remain vigilant in monitoring our campuses. It is up to all of us to immediately report any concerns or suspicious activities to law enforcement, administrators, or teachers.
Parents, please take this opportunity to talk with your student about the responsible use of social media. Working together we can maintain a safe and secure environment where we can focus on teaching and learning.
As a community, we are in this together to keep our families safe. I appreciate your partnership and continued commitment. We’re in this together. #stluciepublicschools #schoolsafety #stluciecounty
