G16 Families,
The District is in communication with law enforcement about the unfounded threats on social media that occurred in neighboring school districts over the last couple weeks. There are no credible threats in Garfield County School District 16.
If there was a concern about student and staff safety due to a credible threat, the District would be informed by law enforcement and steps would be taken to ensure everyone’s safety. Official communications would come to parents through district email messaging and not social media.
Why don't we post these things on social media?
As a school district, we do not want to post these messages on social media or reshare potentially threatening posts, as many of these "threats" have amounted to "hoaxes" or "swatting calls" in recent years. We do not wish to feed into the frenzy and bring more attention to those who wish to allocate important community resources (like law enforcement) to fake threats. We also do not wish to incentivize “copy cat” posts.
Our district has the most school resource officers per capita in Garfield County, and all of our staff prioritize your student's safety above all else. If there is an immediate threat that is credible, we will follow emergency protocol.
We are always secured, all buildings are locked, and there is only one main entrance into all of our buildings. Entry to our schools is monitored and controlled by our secretaries. In the event of a credible threat, we would either cancel school, have a 2-hour delay, or we would place our building(s) under "secure" status, which means there would be no admittance into the building, no student would be allowed to leave, and law enforcement will monitor the building closely. Students would go about their days as normal without going outside for recess, off-campus lunch, etc.
On the right side of the page, you can find a graphic with emergency terms used by our local law enforcement agencies to describe emergency situations.
If you or your student see a concerning post/screenshot, please talk to a trusted adult first. We will always investigate images like this that are shared by students or parents. Some things to consider as you look at information online:
- Be wary of accounts that don't have many followers or aren't verified on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. This is a good indication to do more research on them before trusting what they say.
- Make sure headlines and captions match the content, and always read or view the full post before sharing. It's not a good idea to believe or spread information based on just the headline.
- Look for signs of low-quality content. Examples include headlines and captions with grammatical errors, bold claims that aren't backed up by solid sources, overly edited videos, blurry screenshots, and sensationalist images.
Please also remember to sign-up for emergency alerts with Garfield County Communications (reverse 911) through their Everbridge app, and ReachWell app (multi-language reverse 911 communications). Please make sure to sign-up and that your information is up-to-date to receive important messages from our local law enforcement and first responders. Visit https://garco911.com/ for more information.
We would also like to remind families about Safe2Tell. Where you can "anonymously report anything that concerns or threatens you, your friends, your family, or your community." Visit https://safe2tell.org/ for more information.
Please make sure your emails and phone numbers are up to date with your student's school. Call 970-285-5700 to reach all schools and departments.
Thank you,
G16 Communications
