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In wake of recent Niles, Evanston school threats, social workers point to mental health, pandemic, social media as triggers

Pioneer Press Newspapers - 12/21/2021

Dec. 21—A series of school threats allegedly made by 12- and 13-year-old students in Niles, guns confiscated from Evanston Township High School during a lockdown of the school and a nationwide warning of violence promoted on a social media app have made for a troubling December for area children, families and educators.

The perceived anonymity of social media, mental health challenges and the challenges of the pandemic all play a part in the uptick of student-generated threats against schools that have been reported across the country, a group of Illinois social workers say.

"The behavior is a way of students communicating that they need help or support," said Maria Sinkule, a school social worker in Addison and past president of the Illinois Association of School Social Workers, a statewide organization that provides professional development to school social workers. "The pandemic has exacerbated a lot of mental heath conditions in some of these individuals."

Tiffany Nelson, president of IASSW, agreed that students may make threatening statements as a call for help, particularly when they do so with anonymity.

Limits in socialization that are a result of the pandemic may have caused some underlying mental health issues to resurface or make them more apparent now, she said.

"Yes, this pandemic has put a strain on everyone's mental health, but we're really seeing it in students," said Tom Tebbe, a retired school social worker and executive director of IASSW. "What we're hearing from social workers across the state is they are overwhelmed with the need that is out there this year and the amount of services students require in order to function in school."

Tebbe suggested that remote learning, which occurred for much of the previous school year, slowed down the maturation of many children because they did not have the same social interactions.

At the same time, social media has changed the way people of all ages communicate, he said.

"Generally, the trend over the last several years has been that most of the filters have been removed from people's interactions with one another," Tebbe said.

When asked if recent threats of school violence are real signs that a student will be violent or destructive, Nelson acknowledged that it is a difficult question to answer.

"I think there are some students acting out, but we have a serious mental health crisis we need to address," she said.

"On our end, we need to continue to teach students how to appropriately use social media," Nelson added.

Over the course of a week, police in Niles investigated three reports of threats made against three different schools by middle school-age students. The first threat involved a Snapchat post from a 12-year-old at Gemini Middle School threatening a school shooting, police said. The other two threats were verbal, with a 13-year-old Culver School student threatening to commit a school shooting and a 12-year-old Emerson Middle School student, who was found in possession of a lighter, threatening to start a fire in the school, police said.

The children in the Gemini and Culver incidents have been petitioned to Cook County Juvenile Court on disorderly conduct charges, police said.

In November, Park Ridge police arrested a 17-year-old Maine East High School student for alleged threats she made on social media that were described by the school's principal as "hateful," and "racist and homophobic."

In all four cases, the incidents were reported to school officials, police said.

Last week, police departments and schools across the country shared that a post circulating on Tik Tok threatened school violence on a certain day that week, though no specific schools were named.

In a letter to parents regarding the Tik Tok post, Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 Superintendent Eric Olson urged parents and students to report "any concerning message" to an adult, school official or the police, and to avoid promoting social media rumors. Parents were advised to "set rules for social networking, instant messaging, emailing, online gaming and using webcams."

State legislation passed in 2019 requires public schools to develop a Behavioral Threat Assessment Procedure for determining the type of resources that are needed, Tebbe said.

One of the best ways of preventing school violence and helping students in need of support is for students and parents to "speak up and say something," Sinkule said. Many school districts have anonymous tip lines for reporting concerning behaviors and social media messages, she said.

Parents must also monitor their children's social media accounts and communications and talk to their children about the importance of reaching out if they are feeling a certain way, Nelson said.

"Those conversations need to continue," she said. "They need to happen between parents and children."

School social workers can also continue to make parents aware of local resources, particularly when it comes to the mental health of children, Tebbe said.

"Part of our job is to point parents to the resources available to them," he said.

jjohnson@chicagotribune.com

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