Two unsubstantiated online threats disrupt school day in Carmel

The school district superintendent said the decision to delay school pained her because she understands the inconvenience to families with tight schedules.

Ben Nandy

Sep 20, 2024, 9:19 PM

Updated 24 days ago

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Two threats of violence disrupted school on Friday in the Carmel School District. Officials say the first one happened Friday morning forcing school to be delayed.
At lunchtime, some Carmel High School students were shaking their heads over what happened.
"I had no idea what was happening," senior Jayden Santiago said as he returned to school from lunch.
"It's just insane," junior Leo Fletcher said.
School district officials said that at 5:55 a.m. Friday, just as bus drivers started their morning routes, they were notified a Carmel student posted a non-specific threat to the online chat platform Discord.
Administrators delayed the opening of school by two hours, while the Putnam County Sheriff's Office investigated.
"I knew what I needed to do," Superintendent Erin Meehan-Fairben said of the decision.
Fairben said a short time later, a parent alerted the district to another threat that had been circulating nationwide.
The generic black text box read that someone was planning to pull the fire alarm and shoot students who were evacuating.
Both threats were deemed non-credible.
Fairben said the decision to delay school pained her because she understands the inconvenience to families with tight schedules.
"I want our families and our communities to know that it (disruptions at school) does happen, but it happens in the best interests of students entering our buildings,"
It is still hard to fully comprehend for some students and parents.
"Why would people do this?," senior Alijah Betterly said. "It's not fair for everyone else who actually needs an education and stuff like that and need to wake up that early, just to hear that there's a threat that got put out to the schools."
Some students said they would like for people who make threats disrupting school days to be held accountable but also get professional help.
Senior Michael Zeh wishes people would at least think about their own futures before posting threats.
"Just don't. It's not worth the attention," he said. "It's not worth any publicity whatsoever. You just make yourself look in a dark light [sic]. Just don't do it."
District administrators want students to share any concerns about this or previous disruptions with teachers, administrators or sheriff's deputies posted at each school.
"While it's frustrating to have a delay, and to have a shift in a schedule, what's important to our staff, families and students is safety and security, and we will always err on that side," Fairben said.