HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Over the last few weeks, schools across the country and in the Tampa Bay Area have been inundated with threats. School officials and law enforcement investigate those threats and take them very seriously, but every time there's a new alert, it can take a toll on students just trying to learn.
What should have been a typical day turned into something a little too real for students at Newsome High School last week.
On Friday, a threat forced the school into a lockout for several hours.
"There was police flooding the school,” said 10th grade student Saylor Scott.
"I didn't really know what was going on, and when we all went in like to the corner and like I knew it was real, I was like really scared,” said 10th grade student Madalyn Gallagher.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said they didn't find a weapon or credible threat.
The ripple effect reached parents too.
"It's just crazy. I can't even imagine why people would do this, why kids would do this,” said parent Anitha Mathew.
On Monday, students saw an increased law enforcement presence on campus out of an abundance of caution.
"I stayed home the past two days, Monday and Tuesday, because I just didn't feel like going because I didn't think it was a smart idea,” said 9th grade student Easton Jones.
Student recounts threat at Newsome High School
"I was nervous, but now the school made it really safe for us and made it feel really safe, and I'm really happy that they were able to do that,” said 9th grade student Ariana Taveras.
Still, the threat disrupted a day when kids just wanted to focus on school.
ABC Action News caught up with a handful of students Thursday morning and asked them how they've handled hearing about these situations in Florida and elsewhere.
"It definitely puts like some negative tension around the school,” said Scott. “I feel like that shouldn't be a thing when I go to school. I'm just going there to learn."
"It's not how like high school experience should be,” said Gallagher.
More from a student on school threats
Hillsborough County Schools shared a PSA on social media, where the school district also wrote in a post that these threats can cause unnecessary stress and anxiety while wasting valuable law enforcement resources.
Watch PSA from Hillsborough County Schools
School leaders in the Tampa Bay Area want parents to talk to their students and let them know these actions have serious consequences both in school and in the real world.
Bottom line: threats of any kind are not a joke.
"Already this year, law enforcement has arrested several students who made a bogus threat against a school and were tracked down,” said Superintendent Van Ayres in the PSA video. “Now, I want to be clear: if you see something suspicious, report it to an adult."
Investigative Reporter Katie LaGrone obtained the most recent batch of Florida teacher exit interviews which detail, in their own words, why teachers left the classroom this summer.
