Virginia Beach schools received an influx of threats after a shooting at Heritage High School in Newport News. 

As a result of this, at least two high schools in Virginia Beach, and multiple other schools in the Hampton Roads area had increased police presence. 

Some students at Ocean Lakes High School felt unsafe after the threats to the other schools, as there were numerous rumors on social media that the Heritage shooting was the first of many shootings. 

These threats are preventable, and the school should induce further measures to deter students from making dangerous rumors in the first place, utilizing advisory periods to present easier ways to get mental help and to show the consequences of making threats.

Many questions were brought up during this time, including how to stop these threats from happening in the future. 

According to the National School Safety and Security Services, threats happen either as a joke or as a result of extreme emotional trauma. 

A major solution to these issues would be education of the consequences relating to school shooting threats. 

In Virginia, posting threats on social media results is a class 6 felony, resulting in up to 12 months in jail and a $2500 fine. 

However, some of the people that make threats against schools do not know the consequences and end up committing a crime.

Schools should teach students about the consequences of making threats during the advisory period.

“We are always looking for more ideas when it comes to advisory,” said Dr. Claire LeBlanc, the principal at Ocean Lakes High School. “All of the policy and the discipline guidelines can be accessed at vbcps.com.”

Another solution would be to make mental health counseling more readily available to students. 

According to the National School Safety and Security Services, another major cause of school shooting threats, and school shootings in general, is sudden emotional trauma, such as a death in the proximity of the shooter, or severe bullying. 

Adults at the school who frequently interact with students, such as teachers and counselors, should quickly identify these factors, and prevent the student from doing anything drastic. 

Although stopping these threats is a tall order, it is still possible to minimize the number of threats happening, utilizing advisory periods for its original purpose. 

The schools should enact campaigns to make mental health counseling more available, and should actively utilize advisory periods to try and reduce the stigma surrounding mental health, by further publicizing the #Stigma-free campaign that was made last year by the Dolphin Minds Matter club. 

Students can learn more and help push this issue by speaking, the school resource officer, who is a helpful resource that can teach the consequences of committing a crime at school, whether it be making a threat, or speaking to Dr. LeBlanc, who is open to ideas regarding advisory.