On Sunday, December 10, the North Royalton School District was one of many Ohio school districts that received bomb threats via email. In the end, there was no indication of a threat, but a case of swatting.
Swatting is the practice of making a prank communication, such as a call, email, or text, “to emergency services in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of a large number of armed police officers to a particular address,” according to Oxford Languages. In these cases, the communication was sent to schools.
The North Royalton School District joined other local districts, such as North Olmsted City School District, Akron Public Schools, Strongsville City Schools, Lakewood City Schools, North Ridgeville City School District, and Parma City School District, which received bomb threats through email that Sunday. The emails were not just sent to local districts, but many in and around Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus. The FBI has opened an investigation into these events.
North Royalton School Superintendent Mike Laub reported that, “It started in Texas last week and made its way to Ohio over the weekend. It went viral, across the State of Ohio and we’re finding in other places as well.” He said that communication among superintendents was taking place and that the email seemed to be sent to the Principals of High Schools, but was specific. “We immediately reached out to the Police Department, FBI Terrorist Task Force and other law enforcement agencies, who were already on it. . . They had already identified it as kind of a hoax.” He noted that “Regardless, we put into effect our safety plan and we did bring in some folks to walk through with the Police Department yesterday, just to make sure everything was in its place.” A communication to staff and parents was then sent, apprising them of the situation. Laub said that there were quite a few students that did not report to school that Monday, and that he was not surprised and noted that it was within parents’ rights to do so. The District also had increased Police presence at all three buildings that Monday.
Susan Licate, Public Affairs Officer at the Cleveland Bureau of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, issued the following statement: “The FBI is aware of the bomb threats directed at area schools. At this time, there is no evidence to suggest these to be credible. The FBI takes swatting very seriously because it puts innocent people at risk. Investigating hoax threats drains law enforcement resources and diverts them from responding to an actual crisis. The FBI works with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to gather, share, and act upon threat information as it comes to our attention and often provides resources and guidance in these investigations. We urge the public to remain vigilant and report all suspicious activity and/or individuals to law enforcement immediately.”
The Ohio School Safety Center said it is “aware of online threats of violence that have been made to Ohio schools today that are similar to threats made in other states recently. The OSSC is actively working with the Statewide Terrorism Analysis and Crime Center and the Federal Bureau of Investigation as well as schools and local law enforcement to support their efforts in investigation of these threats.” In 2019, Governor Mike DeWine created the Ohio School Safety Center. “The Center is responsible for assisting local schools and law enforcement with preventing, preparing for, and responding to threats and acts of violence, including self-harm, through a holistic, solutions-based approach to improving school safety,” according to the Ohio government website. “The mission of the Ohio School Safety Center (OSSC) is to support all Ohio schools and first responders . Using a cross-disciplinary approach, the OSSC will provide resources to schools to enhance their strategies for safety, security, and emergency plan development.”

By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer