Central York responds to rumors of threats at middle school

Springettsbury Township police received "a report of rumors of an unspecified threat" toward the Central York Middle School Thursday evening.

Police reported they investigated the rumors and found they were "no credible threat" to the students. 

As a precaution, though, police did have an increased presence at the school Friday, the school district reported. 

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A statement issued by the district stated, "Central York School District officials, along with the Springettsbury Township Police Department’s School Resource Officer, investigated the concerns and determined that there was no threat to the safety and security of Central York School District."

The district reported that "the rumors were related to an incident previously investigated and shared publicly in December 2019."

"The safety and security of our students, faculty and staff is our highest priority," the statement read. "We treat any information we receive regarding a safety concern seriously and act urgently to investigate and bring to resolution such a situation."

The district encourages students, their parents and its staff to report anything that could be construed as a threat to safety to a teacher, administrator or the police. Safety concerns can be reported the Safe2Say Something Anonymous Tip Reporting System by calling 1-844-SAF2SAY or using the mobile app, available at www.safe2saypa.org.

This is not the first time the district has has to respond to reports of threats. Schools were closed for three days in February 2018 after a 13-year-old female middle school student made threats of violence on social media, according to police.

Police later determined that the student lacked the ability to carry out any threat and her goal was to disrupt classes. 

Columnist/reporter Mike Argento has been a Daily Record staffer since 1982. He can be reached at 717-771-2046 or at mike@ydr.com.