In recent years, both school shootings and school shooting threats have gone through the roof, aided by the spread of social media. These school shooting threats affect everyone involved, from students to administration to families, and I think we need to be more better educated on the prevention and awareness of these threats, so that they can be stopped immediately. School threats and shootings have always been a thing, but numbers have drastically increased since around 2017. Just recently, on September 4th, 2024, there was a shooting at Apalachee high school in Winder, Georgia, that caused 4 deaths and 9 people wounded and hospitalized. Despite this, the number of shootings have started to decrease since Covid 19.

Over the last five years, there has been a reported 12,381 threats about violence in schools, but only 1,948 actual incidents. So, how can we tell the difference between a real threat and a fake threat? The real answer is that we can’t. There is no way to tell the difference between real and false threats, especially with so many kids making jokes about violent acts in school. Social media has increased threats as well, as they are able to spread faster and people can easily post something and just forget about it. No matter what, schools have to investigate a threat, joking or not. However, that doesn’t mean that you should just ignore threats. Even if there were 10,433 threats that were false, there were still 1,948 incidents that happened that either were true threats or could have been prevented if they were reported. If you see or hear anything that could be a sign of violence, report it immediately.

The answer is everyone. School violence incidents affect the victims and witnesses, like students, teachers, administrators, and anyone else who works in the school. The National Center for PTSD estimates that 28% of people who have witnessed a mass shooting develop post-traumatic stress disorder and about a third develop acute stress disorder. This not only affects victims and witnesses, but families and parents who lost family and friends. Things like these put a damper on the community, which affects everyone involved. No matter who you are, school shootings can affect you. School shootings are terrifying for everyone involved, and the aftermath is devastating.

Children are dying! Our children are dying and we aren’t doing anything about it. Some schools are implementing safety measures like metal detectors, but it’s obviously not working well enough, because it’s still happening! Children are scared to come to school because they don’t feel safe at school. Shootings increase fear and tension in the school environment, adding to the point that kids don’t feel safe at school. The less safe the children feel, the more absences there will be. It also makes it difficult to focus due to anxiety. Because of these factors, students may start to fall behind in school. Social media is also an easy and quick way to get info to students, which means that they can get all the news at home, increasing absences.

Well, there are many ways. You can donate to organizations that help. There are many foundations and organizations that you can donate to that will help families facing the aftermath of a shooting or death, aid researchers in figuring out why these are happening, and spreading info about shootings, so we can be more aware. A few good sites to donate to are sandyhookpromise.org, which is a way to support the Sandy Hook Shooting victims. Another good site is potectingourstudents.org, which helps schools assess their safety measures and provides them with ideas on how to make their school safer. You can also help by spreading awareness and staying alert in school. If you see any suspicious activity, make sure you report it immediately. Our children are dying, and it’s up to us to save them.