Joshua ISD taking precautions after social media threats

Oct. 28—Joshua ISD is taking special precautions after recent social media threats against the district, Superintendent Fran Marek said Thursday morning.

Screenshots of SnapChat conversations circulating on Facebook on Wednesday night appeared to include threats of a possible school shooting.

"We are treating these threats as credible threats and acting with the utmost safety and security for our students and staff; however, we do believe these threats are being made from someone outside of Joshua ISD possibly even outside of the state of Texas," Marek said. "Please know that this does not reduce our attention or prevention with this serious situation."

Joshua High School, New Horizon High School and Ninth Grade Campus are on on secure hold, meaning students cannot travel between campuses.

"We also have Joshua ISD police actively present in these buildings today," Marek said. "The Joshua ISD Police Department, Joshua Police Department and Johnson County Sheriff's Office are all actively patrolling the outside perimeters of these three campuses today.

"I know as a parent this bring tremendous concern to you, and I want to assure you that our students are 'all' our children, and we will do everything in our power to keep them safe.

Marek said the district will continue to monitor the situation throughout the day and if additional security measures are needed on any campuses, they will be implemented and you will be notified.

The schools were first thrown into lockdown on Wednesday after social media threats made Tuesday night, but administrators later announced that through investigation they determined the threats were made from out of state and were not targeting JISD.

Via an email to parents, the district announced that all absences for the day will be marked as excused.