According to the Dallas Morning News:
In January 2023, in Texas, a boy said: "Don't come to school tomorrow." A 13-year-old girl feared it was a threat. According to school authorities, in such situations, the "appropriate" action she should have taken would have been either "to notify a trusted adult" or to use her school's "anonymous reporting options." Instead, she confided to her friends in a group chat. A rumor spread, and the school responded by disciplining her, planning to send her to the Disciplinary Alternative Education Program for 30 days. Her mother intervened, and the school recanted.
"Police quickly determined the boy alleged to have made the comment did not have access to a gun," the story says. The boy later told officials he made the comment because "I wanted to scare them. ... I wanted to because I think that it was funny. I expected them to tell." After that, however, he denied having made the comment at all.
The underlying problem is that school shootings happen and students are justifiably anxious about what they should do when they hear something that sounds like a threat. Another part of the problem in this situation, as the newspaper article notes, is that Black children are often treated like adults. In this case, the 13-year-old girl is Black. She was penalized because, after reasonably perceiving a threat, she confided in her friends (whether for a reality check, a second opinion, emotional support, or all of those) rather than in an adult, as adults wanted her to do.
But the adults decided not to take any action, so what would have been the point of going to an adult?
And it doesn't just affect kids. The dilemma can surface after you grow up too.
My novel, Most Famous Short Film of All Time, is about a situation like this. What if you hear something that sounds like a threat, and you tell the boss, and the boss doesn't believe you? What then?
Image by Peter Schmidt from Pixabay
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