LITHIA, Fla. — The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office hasn't made any arrests for the threats that prompted a lockdown Friday at Newsome High School and extra security Monday, including the use of metal detectors and searching student backpacks.
Monday night the sheriff's office announced it's increasing the reward for information about who threatened Newsome to up to $5,000 from an original reward of $1,000. The anonymous threats were submitted via the Fortify-FL app, which is an anonymous reporting app created in the wake of the Parkland shooting.
Hillsborough County Public Schools confirmed late Monday that the same security protocols will be in place Tuesday as well.
There are more than 3,000 students at Newsome but the school’s Parent Teacher Student Association says about 1,000 students were absent on Monday.
After Friday’s lockdown, and no arrest over the weekend, Jennifer Murray kept her son from Newsome High on Monday. She says parents are still concerned about safety as the person who submitted two threats to kill a teacher and bring a bomb to school isn’t known.
“Friday was nerve-wracking,” she says. “It was gut-wrenching.”
She may keep her son out again on Tuesday.
“I think it really depends on how he's feeling,” she says. “Today the school was quite empty. Parents want answers. They want to know why. They want to know where it's coming from.”
Hillsborough County School Board member Patti Rendon, who represents the area where Newsome is in the district, was on campus Friday and Monday but understands why parents may be leery.
“Every family has a decision they have to make,” she says. “I cannot say what's right for any family member. I respect the fact that they're going to find out what's best for their child.”
Metal detectors brought in after the threats were hailed by some parents who said they want them in schools permanently. Leaders, however, pumped the brakes on the idea.
“I want to make sure that the decisions we make moving forward are coming from a statistic, a database, and a rational decision,” Rendon says.
Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters Monday Florida won’t have them across the state.
“I think a lot of people look at that and say that may not be the best way to do it,” he said. “That would definitely not be something we would mandate be done throughout the state of Florida.”
Murray says she supports them if it will keep her son safe.
“And that we can go back to normal knowing there really is not a legitimate credible threat,” she adds.
That still is the question: was the threat at Newsome legitimate or a prank?
Rendon thinks the reason we've seen a surge in threats statewide is because of a new state law in effect that requires districts to teach students about the reporting app called Fortify-FL and that once they were made aware, the threats, credible or not, followed.
And there are plenty of questions about the effectiveness of metal detectors in schools. One study published in the Journal of School Health concluded there is insufficient data to determine whether detectors reduce the risk of violent behavior among students. In fact, some research suggests that they give students a false sense of security.
A 2017 study of metal detectors in New York schools states that only one dangerous item was found for every 23,000 students and that the majority of weapons confiscated were discovered without a scanning device.