Granite Falls parents angry over school's handling of online student threats



GRANITE FALLS -- Parents packed a meeting at Granite Falls High School on Thursday night, outraged about how the school has been handling online death threats made to students.

Dozens of students have received death threats on the social media site Ask.fm, and the high school also got a bomb scare. But parents say school administrators have failed to address the threats appropriately.

Ask.fm is an anonymous site, making it hard for police to track down the users.

Elizabeth Adams says her son is one of dozens who received a death threat on the social media site. The threats started in mid-December and it hasn’t stopped.

“This is my son; I would not be able to live with it if something happens to him," Adams said.

Senior Erin FitzGerald’s boyfriend was also targeted.

“A lot of people didn’t come to school because they were scared about it,” FitzGerald said.

“We are taking it very seriously,” Acting Police Chief Don Lauer said.

Lauer said the FBI is now involved and Ask.fm is cooperating, but that was not enough to calm the crowd.

They wanted answers to alleviate their fears; instead, many left feeling angry

“It’s a waste of a meeting,” parent Cindy Mayer said.

“They don’t want to answer any questions. They want us to listen to what they have to say. It’s not informational,” parent Tammie Curry said.

Some were asking why it took more than two days for many parents to learn about a bomb threat to the school made on Ask.fm and why there wasn’t an immediate lockdown.

“There is a huge lack of communication. A lot of students didn’t know (about the bomb threat) until later in that week,” Curry said.

“I should have known there was a problem there,” Adams said.

During the meeting, the school said they notified police as soon as they learned of the threats. As for a lockdown, police say they swept the school and a lockdown was not deemed necessary.

“At this point we have nothing to lead us to believe that the students and staff are in immediate danger,” Lauer said.

"I think the school is doing the best they can the police force, Lauer is doing a good job doing it," parent Chris Johnson said.

During the meeting, Q13 FOX News approached school officials several times trying to get a response because parents were upset. They said they did not have time to answer questions.