School students today are faced with a lot of pressure and that combined with forms of communication not imaginable just a few years ago has led to an increase in the number of school threats like the one this week at Summerville Middle School and Chattooga High School.

According to statistics, one of the biggest factors in school threats is peer bullying.  Sometimes, students cannot process the bullying that they experience and lash out by making threatening statements.  But issuing a threat, even over social media or via text, is a crime as one juvenile found out this week.  That student was accused of issuing a threat and was subsequently arrested on charges and turned over to juvenile authorities.

While the nature of the threats issued this week were not disclosed by law enforcement, nationally, the most common threats are school shooting threats  (38.8% of all threats), followed by generalized or unspecified threats of violence (35.8%), and bomb threats (22.5%).

Chattooga County Sheriff Mark Schrader said, “We have seen an increase in complaints, here in Chattooga County, on children being involved in internet crimes ranging from cyber bullying to sexual exploitation. PLEASE have a talk with your kids tonight because, believe it or not, they know, see and hear things that we didn’t experience at their ages. The level of anxiety and stress in their life is high. Your conversation could very well save their life.”

Parents, if you know your child is bullying another child, speak with them and reach out to local school administrators to discuss how best to deal with the issues.  Also, if you have a child that is being bullied, make sure you report incidents and talk with your child about the best way to handle bullying.