Dear Barrington 220 Community,
Over the past couple of weeks, we have had two separate instances that involved Barrington High School students creating a threatening post on social media directed at the high school. In both cases, we worked with Barrington Police to immediately investigate the situation and police determined the threats were not credible.
The safety of our students and staff is always our top priority and when these situations occur, we take these matters very seriously. Due to the nature of the posts and the short duration between incidents, we are using this situation as a learning opportunity for all students at BHS. Next week students will receive additional instruction at the high school about emotional self-regulation, which is the ability to manage and control your emotions in a healthy and socially acceptable manner, as well as the proper way to use social media.
We also encourage parents of children with access to a digital device and social media at all grade levels to have conversations with their child(ren) at home about the potential ramifications of a threatening social media post. It is critical that students understand the serious nature of posts that contain threatening language and the involvement of the school district and law enforcement in investigating these posts. Please stress the importance of never posting anything that can be misconstrued as a threat, even if the student intends for it to be a joke or a way to share frustration.
As a reminder, we always encourage our community to use our Safe 2 Help online reporting tool to share any concerns you may have.
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