MURRAY – The rumor about a threat of violence at Murray High School that ran rampant through the student body over the weekend and into Monday turned out to be just that – a rumor, according to an email Murray Independent School District Superintendent Coy Samons sent to district stakeholders Monday afternoon.
In the email, Samons advised that administrators were “aware of recent rumors circulating on social media, amongst students and community members of possible threats of violence directed at Murray High School. … Murray Independent wishes to inform families there were no threatening statements made toward specific students or campus facilities.”
Samons said that MHS personnel, school resource officer and the Murray Police Department worked closely to identify the source of the rumors, ultimately concluding there was no evidence of a credible threat. He further advised that there would be additional law enforcement on campus and that enhanced safety protocols were in place.
While MHS Principal Tony Jarvis could not give many more details, he did confirm in an interview yesterday that the new safety protocols include, at least in part, changes to student arrival procedures.
“I’m not really at liberty to talk a lot about things, but we are working to make sure we’re doing everything we can to keep the campus safe and everyone involved here safe,” Jarvis told The Sentinel. “So, yeah, we have changed some practices just because we felt like that might be something to take a look at. Actually, students have come to me with thoughts about things that we do. So, we’ve listened, and we’ve worked. We’re trying a couple of different things in the last three or four weeks, and then some things came on (Monday).”
Among the changes, mandatory bag checks have been reinstated as of Monday. Jarvis said his hope in bringing back the safety measure was to “give students some comfort and knowledge that we know what we’re seeing when they come through the doors.’”
“We checked bags for years here until we got the scan towers,” Jarvis said, referring to weapons detection systems that students now walk through when they enter the building. “Then we did some limited checking every now and again, and if your bag went off, we would have to look in it.”
“I like doing the bag checks because I get to talk to the student one-on-one,” he added. “For those of us doing the bag checks before the scan towers (were brought in), it was something that allowed for a more personal connection with kids. The students tend to go to the same people, so you can strike up conversation. I’m also reading body language. That’s something we’re looking for, too, anything that gives us a sense of these kids are doing well or that one needs a bit more.”
Jarvis also confirmed that procedures for entering the building are consistent regardless of whether a student arrives early to attend a club meeting or is late for school, adding, “Everyone goes through the same process, it looks a little different.”
In addition to the district-wide email from Samons, Jarvis sent his own email Monday night to MHS stakeholders, reiterating the school’s commitment to ensuring the safety of students and staff. He also reminded students of the resources available to share safety concerns – by reporting to any adult staff member, through the Tassel Connect app installed on their Chromebooks or using the STOP Tipline (linked here), which is a completely anonymous way for students to share concerns with school administrators.
“I’ve checked back through with kids over the last couple of days, and again, it’s basically exactly what Mr. Samons and I reaffirmed (Monday), which was that it was just a whole lot of talk, a rumor,” Jarvis said. “I chased a lot of dots yesterday trying to follow up with everyone because I need to. You know, I have a kid here and 600 students and fabulous staff, so I checked back and just kept running into the same thing.”
He likened it to a game of telephone. “We used to do that in little youth groups that I would be in – (start with) two sentences, and let’s see what it is when it gets around to the end. To me, it was almost like, ‘Well, someone told me this, and I need to add my own embellishment’ – I call it a topper – ‘so that my story has more pizazz to it.’”
“We just want everyone to feel comfortable and safe and continue having school despite this rumor that just kind of blew up on us a little bit, but that’s okay,” Jarvis said. “You have to be ready for these things because you never know when they will happen.”
