Misinformation abounds after The Dalles High School safety threat

TDHS junior Katelyn McFetridge, organizer of the walkout, said the decision came after seeing posts made to The Dalles Unedited Happenings Facebook page.

“I saw a lot of parents posting … and I was like, there’s no students saying anything about this,” McFetridge said. “… So that’s kind of why I put it together to walk out, is to start the conversation and start like, there’s a problem. We need to fix it.”

She said the point wasn’t to start a conflict with the school, but to address the number of threats made and the district’s response.

According to a district press release published on Facebook Oct. 17, TDHS administrators received information from several students regarding concerning behavior by another. Staff initiated an investigation, with local law enforcement responding.

Officers “responded promptly and worked closely with the student and their family, who were fully cooperative throughout the process,” said the press release. “After a comprehensive investigation, it was determined that the claims were unfounded, and there is no threat to TDHS, or any of our schools.”

D21 issued another statement later that day, defending its decision to not inform the community of the incident until the morning after it occurred. The statement appeared to be addressing negative comments to the district’s Facebook page.

“Unfortunately, in the world of social media, misinformation and speculation travel much faster than verified information,” read the statement. “It was not until well after it was found to be not credible that rumors and speculation escalated. It’s a balancing act between sharing what accurate information we can without increasing panic, particularly when threats are found to not be credible. Sharing information on unfounded threats only adds to confusion and speculation.”

The statement additionally said the district will conduct a threat assessment and “work through the process regarding this event.”

The Dalles Police Department (TDPD) also issued a Facebook statement on the morning of Oct. 17, which read in part, “Good news, we are aware of rumors of a threat at TDHS. It was investigated and the individual and their family cooperated with us. There is no known danger but just to be safe we will be around school welcoming students this morning.”

The statement confirmed school officials followed incident protocol and addressed the rumors circulating about the events of the previous day, saying, “Sadly, we have dealt with situations like this before and are all too familiar with how to proceed. We know that information and rumors that circulate around the community are often inaccurate, and we have seen many inaccurate statements online today.”

Kurt Evans, TDHS principal, sent a letter to families in the afternoon of Oct. 17 addressing concerns he had received regarding the school’s communication timeline. He began by saying the school receives numerous safety threats over the course of the school year because students are encouraged to report any threat, “even if it seems far-fetched,” he said. “These are investigated thoroughly with the support of our local law enforcement and rarely is it determined that there is a threat to the safety of the students. In most cases, we do not notify families that a report came in or that an investigation took place.”

The Oct. 16 incident was determined to not be a threat to student safety; had the opposite been true, families would have been immediately notified, Evans said.

“What took place overnight on social media and the amount of misinformation that was being spread is like nothing I’ve ever seen,” he said. “Once we realized the extent of the misinformation that was being spread on social media, our communication team met and sent out a communique around 7:30 a.m.”

Evans ended the letter by saying administrators and law enforcement work together to determine the viability of threats made and jointly practice emergency drills throughout the school year. “I also want to encourage families to always report threats to student safety but not engage in the spread of misinformation or speculation,” he said.

“Posting [the walkout] was to start the conversation, to get people here, to get the ball rolling on finding a solution to this because students going to school and being afraid is not okay with me,” Fetridge said. “I’m not okay with dropping my sister off this morning saying, ‘I’m hosting a protest, I don’t know what’s going to happen, I love you.’ That’s not okay with me, at all.”