City school board: Threats won’t be tolerated

By WVUA 23 News Reporter Karnera Gafford

TUSCALOOSA – The Tuscaloosa City Board of Education said it will be stepping up its response when people make false reports after several schools were hit with threatening calls last week.

Calling in threats or posting false threats on social media is an arrestable offense and disrupts the day for students, staff and parents.

“We’ve got a safety plan that is dynamic that we evaluate regularly, and we’ve got personnel in place who evaluate that with us,” said TCS Superintendent Mike Daria. “But the best strategy we have in that is if you see something, say something. We can learn from our students, our parents and our staff’s concerns so we can address them. We want to be proactive, not reactive.”

The board pledged to continue to take corrective actions to keep students and faculty safe.

A threatening Instagram post and an anonymous phone call sent Eastwood Middle School and Paul W. Bryant High School into lockdown last week. The person investigators deemed responsible for the crime is a student and is being appropriately punished, school leaders said, but details will not be released.