Late Thursday March 30th, the Valley Center-Pauma Unified School District administration as well as the San Diego County Sheriff's Department became aware of an alleged social media threat towards Valley Center High School.
VCPUSD worked swiftly with deputies to identify the source of the perceived threat and Valley Center Sheriff’s contacted the student alleged to have made the threat in order to conduct a full investigation. Meanwhile, VCPUSD administrative staff worked to fully investigate the incident independently and provide background to sheriff’s deputies working the investigation.
According to sheriff’s officials, the student in question and family cooperated fully with the investigation.
Based on the investigations that took place, the sheriff’s department informed the district that the threat was “unfounded” and the determination was made that there was no threat to student or staff safety.
“We appreciate the students and parents who brought the threat to our attention last night,” San Diego Sheriff’s Department’s Lt. Meleen told the district in a statement. “The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department takes threats to school safety very seriously and encourages any student or staff member who hears of potential harm to contact us immediately.”
VCPUSD is continually working to ensure the safety of all students, staff, and community members. As a precautionary measure, VCPUSD administration officials requested a visible law enforcement presence on the high school campus the next day, which was granted by the department.
No issues or incidents were reported.
“Student safety is one of our highest priorities and we act on and take all shared concerns seriously to make sure each student feels safe when they step onto our campus or attend school events,” VCPUSD Superintendent Ron McCowan said in a statement. “We encourage all members of our school community (staff, families, and students) to report any concerns so that we can be proactive in responding. Reports can be sent directly to our school administrators or through our online Sprigeo service which can be found on the district website and is accessible from all student devices.”
Students, their families, or community members can report any perceived threats or concerns, as always, to school site staff and administrators or may choose to do so through the above-mentioned Sprigeo application, which can be found at http://vcpusd.org/sprigeo.
Reports can also be made through the VCPUSD app, which can be found through the Apple App Store or at the Google Play store.
Reporting parties may remain anonymous during the process.