“Making the decision to cancel classes tomorrow has not been an easy one,” Principal Greg Kapaku said in a message to parents. Gilroy police said they had found threats on social media not to be credible, but school officials said final exams scheduled for Friday, the last day before winter break, would be postponed to January out of an abundance of caution. “We handle even rumored threats with utmost seriousness,” the statement said, “which is why we’re working with law enforcement to look into warnings about potential violence at schools even though we have not found evidence of such threats originating or spreading via TikTok.”Īt least a few districts announced plans to close school buildings Friday, including Gilroy High School in northern California. In a statement on Twitter, TikTok said it was working with law enforcement to investigate. The administrators said local police departments would increase their presence around schools “out of an abundance of caution.”

“We have been made aware of a nationwide viral TikTok trend about ‘school shooting and bomb threats for every school in the USA even elementary’ on Friday, December 17.” “We are writing to inform you and not alarm you,” Oak Park and River Forest, Illinois, school administrators said in an email to parents. The vague, anonymous posts circulating online warned that multiple schools would receive shooting and bomb threats. School officials in states including Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Montana, New York and Pennsylvania said Thursday there would be an increased police presence because of the threats. The social media threats had many educators on edge as they circulated in the aftermath of a deadly school shooting in Michigan, which has been followed by numerous copycat threats to schools elsewhere. Educators announced plans to increase security in response to TikTok posts warning of shooting and bomb threats at schools around the country Friday as officials assured parents the viral posts were not considered credible.

School tik tok threat