ST. LOUIS 鈥 Around 1 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 26, an Instagram account called 鈥渟choolshooter314and618鈥 posted a picture of two large rifles and threatened serious damage.
The caption listed six different schools followed by dates, including 鈥淗azelwood east 9/26... Jennings High school 10/1; Vashon 10/2.鈥
51黑料 County police tracked down the creator of the account, 18-year-old Sean Scott, and he鈥檚 since been charged with making a first-degree terrorist threat, a felony.
鈥淗e did it knowing it would place thousands of people in fear because he was bored and did not want to go to school,鈥 court records said.
Reports of similar threats against schools, mostly hoaxes, have flooded national news reports in recent weeks and months. Schools in the 51黑料 region have faced at least 30 threats over the past two weeks alone.
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In the now generation-long wake of the 1999 Columbine school shooting in Colorado, school leaders are no longer just tasked with providing a quality education. They now must ensure their students and employees aren鈥檛 harmed at school.
So they take every threat 鈥 regardless of whether it鈥檚 an ill-conceived social media 鈥渏oke鈥 鈥 seriously. And security and preparations for the worst-case scenario have become part of school architecture.
Metal detectors, bulletproof glass, surveillance technology, cameras, alarm systems and safety officers are now common. So too are active-shooter drills and contingency plans to hide from and contain any mass shooting.
So far in 2024, there were at least 139 incidents of gunfire on school grounds, resulting in 42 deaths and 91 injuries, .
Ritenour schools Superintendent Chris Kilbride has started to lose count of the threats.
In his school district, it started Wednesday, Sept. 11, with an anonymous social media post threatening Ritenour High School. Then another was posted. Administrators and police investigated into the early hours of Sept. 12 to determine whether it was credible.
The school went to virtual classes the next day, just to be safe.
Throughout the next week, Ritenour parents received almost daily notifications of threats made and threats thwarted or deemed uncredible. One, made by a middle school student during class, involved a 911 call falsely claiming there was a shooter at the school.
The worst almost happened on Sept. 17, when St. Ann police said a 16-year-old former student posted a video of himself on Instagram waving a gun around and tagging Ritenour High. The teen, armed with a Glock and an extended-round magazine, was arrested on school grounds and charged. His parents now face charges for allegedly trying to hide evidence against him.
鈥淭his is not something that we should become so adept at dealing with,鈥 Kilbride told a crowded room of reporters at a news conference later that day.
But they have become adept.
鈥淲e always have to assume that anything can happen at any time,鈥 Kilbride said in an interview. 鈥淎nd the unfortunate reality around the country, something will.鈥
The past few weeks have been rough on Ritenour鈥檚 students and staff, Kilbride said. As the person tasked with leading the district through the spate of threats, Kilbride said it鈥檇 be easy to feel overwhelmed, but instead, he feels proud. He said his community has come together through this difficult time.
鈥淎nd I know it鈥檚 not going to go on forever; I know there鈥檚 going to be a lot of learning about the root causes that鈥檚 caused this spike,鈥 Kilbride said.
鈥楢 24/7 operation鈥
Oct. 24 marks two years since an armed intruder shot the glass out of a door at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School and let himself in and killed student Alexzandria Bell and teacher Jean Kuczka.
The tragedy drove school leaders to examine their own perimeters. As did several other shootings: Parkland, Sandy Hook, Uvalde, Columbine, to name only a few.
Multiple districts 鈥 including Ritenour, Lindbergh, Mehlville and Francis Howell 鈥 have built security vestibules, or small, enclosed spaces that serve as a double-barrier at entrances and require a person inside, often connected by a camera or speaker, to allow entry to visitors.
Ferguson-Florissant, among other districts, started using a monitoring software tool called Securly that detects unsafe activity online. It flags words such as 鈥渟hoot,鈥 鈥渒nife,鈥 鈥済un鈥 and 鈥渟uicide鈥 if a student types them and alerts security, counselors and school leaders.
鈥淏ased on the level of risk, there have been instances when we have asked the police to conduct a check at a student鈥檚 home,鈥 district spokesperson Onye Hollomon said. 鈥淜eeping schools safe is a 24/7 operation.鈥
Last year, Rockwood School District hired four school safety officers to help patrol elementary schools. Each previously served as a Rockwood school resource officer at some point in their careers, a spokesperson said. They鈥檙e armed.
Normandy Schools Collaborative has spent more than $400,000 on safety for the 2,800-student district over the past year. This included scanners, surveillance system upgrades and metal detectors at middle and high schools. Grades six and up now require clear book bags, and students must put their phones in locked pouches during the school day.
Multiple districts have also started to train staff how to recognize emergency bleeding and how to stop it, either by applying tourniquets or packing wounds, through kits called .
And local schools have collectively spent millions on bulletproof glass in entrances or hallways. In June, the Ladue School District鈥檚 board approved spending $655,000 to install forced-entry-resistant, riot- and bullet-resistant security laminates on select windows and doors at all eight of the district鈥檚 schools.
51黑料 Public Schools did not respond when asked what safety improvements were made to Central Visual and Performing Arts High School since the 2022 shooting. But at a news conference , Board of Education Vice President Matt Davis said millions have gone toward safety and security upgrades.
The Parkway School District now uses a threat assessment model based on guidelines at the University of Virginia that helps identify and address threats, as well as the underlying issues that led to them. Each Parkway school evaluates each threat, in addition to identifying students who may be struggling to intervene early so that violent behavior doesn鈥檛 occur in the first place.
鈥淪hooting up a school is exceedingly rare,鈥 Greg Wagener, coordinator of student discipline and alternative student programs, said. 鈥淏ut in just about every other instance, it was the end result of a detectable process.鈥
鈥楴o price鈥 for safety
Visitors to Lindbergh High School must stand before a security camera and state their business. A security officer watches remotely from a monitor.
Once inside an entry vestibule lined with glass made to take several minutes to break through, an attendant takes driver鈥檚 licenses and runs the names through a national sex offender registry. Visitors approved for entry must wear a printed sticker with their names and photos on them.
This is the new Lindbergh High School, which underwent a significant renovation and expansion over the past four years.
Safety was a key part of the revamp and included consultation from security expert Phil Santore, who worked on the rebuilds of the World Trade Center in New York City and Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut.
鈥淭he concept is to make your buildings really hard to get into but not feel like a prison,鈥 said Superintendent Tony Lake.
Many windows are designed to withstand entry from anything from a hammer to a gun. In some areas, high-impact sheetrock lines the walls.
If someone does get in, classrooms connect via back corridors that lead to safe rooms with 鈥渉ard corners,鈥 where students would be out of an intruder鈥檚 line of sight. Certain doors are fitted with thumb-turn locks so teachers wouldn鈥檛 have to worry about finding their keys in a crisis.
There are only two ways in and out. Only those with security badges can use other entrances without setting off alarms.
The badges are fitted with a panic button that can alert local police of emergencies. Transmitters throughout the school create a 鈥済eofence鈥 of the building and tell responders exactly where in the building a threat was reported.
Eventually, every Lindbergh building will have alarm doors, additional security cameras and safety film or a thin plastic covering over windows that protects against break-ins. All thanks to a bond issue that passed in April.
鈥淚f you survey families right now, one of the biggest things that鈥檚 on their mind is: Is my kid going to be safe at school?鈥 Lake said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think safety has a price.鈥
But facility upgrades can only do so much, Lake said.
On a recent school day, during Lindbergh鈥檚 鈥減ower lunch鈥 鈥 a 50-minute free period in the middle of the day 鈥 students were mingling in the school鈥檚 open spaces; they were in the gyms playing basketball, in music rooms practicing violin, in classrooms getting extra help from teachers.
The goal is connectivity, Lake said, to give students more time to join clubs and socialize and help them feel like school is a second home.
鈥淭hey feel like they belong, they feel like they鈥檙e welcome,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 our No. 1 safety strategy.鈥
View life in 51黑料 through the Post-Dispatch photographers' lenses. Edited by Jenna Jones.
