Venice High School student arrested and accused of making bomb threat
A Venice High School student was arrested Tuesday in connection with a bomb threat made to the school, the Sarasota School District wrote in a social media post.
The student made the alleged threat on social media and was anonymously reported to school authorities Tuesday morning through FortifyFL, the district said. The Sarasota County Schools Police Department investigated the threat and determined that the student made it as a "joke." The student was arrested because of the district's "zero-tolerance" policy for school threats, the district said.
Late this morning, administration was made aware of an alleged bomb threat made against @VeniceHighSCS. The alleged threat – made on social media – was reported anonymously to school authorities through FortifyFL.
The SCSPD conducted an investigation and was quickly able to…— Sarasota Schools (@sarasotaschools) August 22, 2023
No additional information about the student or the threat was immediately available. In its release, the district asked families to review School Board Policy 5.32 about zero-tolerance for school-related crimes.
"Our school district has a zero-tolerance policy. Any student found to be making a threat against a school — be it verbal, written, or electronically — will be investigated by law enforcement and possibly arrested or removed from school. We take the safety and security of our school community extremely seriously," the district wrote.
The threat also came on the same day Superintendent Terry Connor was scheduled to visit Venice High in the first leg of his listening tour to engage with the public in a town-hall setting. Connor posted to X, formerly called Twitter, 20 minutes before the district's release about the threat to say that the town hall was still happening in the school's cafeteria Tuesday evening.
The event runs from 5-6 p.m. for employees and 7-8 p.m. for community members.
Follow Herald-Tribune Education Reporter Steven Walker on Twitter at @swalker_7. He can be reached at sbwalker@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Venice High student accused of bomb threat
