Mayor Mike Rawlings said “Someone’s trying to scare Dallas,” following the Dallas Independent School District’s receipt of a terroristic threat Wednesday night. The threat was similar to the ones received by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and New York schools earlier this week. Determined to be “non-credible,” the second largest school district in Texas will remain open today.
In a press conference held Thursday morning, Mayor Rawlings said, “Obviously, someone’s trying to scare Dallas.” He added, “That’s not going to work.”
.@Mike_Rawlings: Schools are safe; “Obviously, someone is trying to scare Dallas.” Updates to be ongoing. “We’re a safe city this morning.”
— Dallas ISD (@dallasschools) December 17, 2015
Although he called Dallas “a safe city this morning,” Rawlings expressed concern about the rash of scare tactics happening across U.S. school districts and how to best determine when threats are credible. He said,“We are going to rely on the FBI.”
Around 8 p.m., Dec. 16, several Dallas ISD staff members at two of its campuses, Pinkston High School and Martinez Elementary School, received a terroristic threat similar to those received by LAUSD and New York Public Schools earlier this week.
In a statement issued by Dallas ISD, they advised they learned that the same or similar email was sent to staff in Houston ISD and Miami Public Schools. The district remained in contact with Dallas Police as well as the local joint terrorism task force since being made aware of the threat. A sweep of both Pinkston High School and Martinez Elementary was conducted. Bomb sniffing canines were brought to each location to assist with bomb sweeps and at 2:20 a.m., Dallas Police found no credible threat and released the buildings back to the district.
Even though Dallas schools were deemed safe and the district will be open for a normal business today, police will maintain an increased presence in and around campuses today and counselors will be available districtwide to talk to any student or staff member. Families were informed of the situation.
#DallasISD received a terroristic threat that has been deemed not credible & schools will open as normal. Info: https://t.co/ihBgkv0GpH
— Dallas ISD (@dallasschools) December 17, 2015
At the press conference, Dallas Police Chief David Brown said they are trying as best as they can “to get to the source of these threats, he said. “We are pursuing every lead with federal authorities.”
Craig Miller, Dallas ISD police chief, said they took the threat very seriously. “We feel very confident that the schools are safe.”
“I think everyone has done their due diligence on the information we have,” Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa added. “We feel that our students are safe.”
Also on Wednesday night, the state’s largest school district, Houston, ISD received a similar threat, Breitbart Texas reported. Similarly, law enforcement determined the threat was not credible. Police conducted sweeps of the affected campuses as a cautionary measure. Houston ISD also announced its schools will be open today. They asked parents and students to remain vigilant this morning and report any suspicious activity to authorities.
NBC DFW (KXAS 5) reported that Florida’s Miami-Dade County Public Schools also received the similar non-credible threat late and their schools will be open today. Nearby, Broward County Public Schools indicated they received a threat. Earlier this week, a similiar threat shut down the LAUSD, the nation’s second largest school district, a threat later determined to be a hoax. Breitbart News reported on this extensively.
Follow Merrill Hope on Twitter @OutOfTheBoxMom.
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