3 Whitman-Hanson high school students to be charged after social media threats

Three Whitman-Hanson High School students will face charges in Juvenile Court after making threats on social media, authorities said.

The impending charges result from a social media post that showed a Whitman-Hanson student holding a realistic-looking pellet gun with a caption telling people not to go to school Monday, the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District and Whitman and Hanson police said in a joint statement Monday.

The social media post came after "non-specific potential threats of violence were made toward numerous school districts over the weekend," according to the statement.

As a result of the Snapchat post, the three Whitman-Hanson High School students will be charged with disturbing a school assembly, authorities said.

Whitman-Hanson Regional School District Superintendent Jeff Szymaniak said the students will be issued summonses to appear in court at a later date, and they will also be subject to the school district's student code of conduct policies. Because the students are juveniles, their identities will not be released.

State law prohibited police from arresting the students at the high school Monday because it was their first offense. Because of a provision in the Criminal Justice Reform Act of 2018, the disturbing a school assembly charge against the students will likely be dropped.

Several South Shore towns had an increased police presence at some of their schools Monday morning as a result of the social media posts.

Norwell School Superintendent Matthew Keegan said in an email to families that two South Shore communities received threats to their high schools through the posts.

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He said Norwell was not mentioned in the social media posts and there is no threat or cause for concern, but there was a police presence at the town's middle and high schools Monday morning.

Brockton Public Schools officials said Brockton High School was named in the threatening Snapchat messages over the weekend. A spokesperson for the school district said security screenings were reinstated at all entrances of the high school Monday morning and there was an added police presence on campus throughout the day.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: South Shore schools increase police presence amid social media threats