Civil liability for parents could deter school threats, Board of Education member says

Board of Education Chair Ben Gibson and Vice Chair Ryan Petty participate in a Board of Education meeting at Tallahassee State College on Oct. 15, 2024. (Photo by Jay Waagmeester/Florida Phoenix)Civil penalties for parents whose children threaten schools could deter threats from occurring, a Florida Board of Education member suggested Tuesday. 

A 14-year-old killed four and wounded nine in Georgia in September, setting off a wave of “copycat” school threats in Florida and around the nation. The increase in threats prompted sheriff’s departments and school districts in Florida to remind students and parents that threats are illegal and not a joke. 

Tuesday, State Board of Education Member Ryan Petty echoed the superintendents and sheriffs: School threats are not a joke. 

“When many of these perpetrators that made the threat were confronted by law enforcement, they seemed to think it was a joke,” Petty said in a brief interview with the Florida Phoenix during a break in a board meeting. 

School shooting threats break out in FL; districts, sheriffs issue warnings

Petty’s daughter, Alaina, was killed in the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. 

Students don’t seem to understand the seriousness of such threats and neither do parents, said Petty, adding that sometimes parents have been dismissive or unserious about responding to law enforcement pressing charges against their child who made a threat.

Petty said during his conversations with sheriffs and state attorneys they have told him they “are looking at options to hold parents accountable.”

During Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting at Tallahassee State College, Petty said parental accountability for school threats “may be something that the Legislature needs to take up next year.”

The cost of investigating threats, Petty said, can run to thousands of dollars each time officers are sent to schools and homes to investigate, investigate online, contact social media companies, and take other measures to ensure safety. Some sheriff’s departments have had to refocus detectives toward investigating school threats amid the “onslaught,” according to Petty. 

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Petty told the Florida Phoenix that he thinks parents might keep better track of what their child is doing online if they were civilly liable for school threats made by their children. 

Following the shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia that killed four people, the father of the accused shooter was charged with murder, involuntary manslaughter, and cruelty to children. 

In Michigan, the parents of a school shooter were sentenced to 10 years in prison for their role in four deaths. They were convicted of involuntary manslaughter. 

“I’m not proposing or advocating for anything that goes that far, but what I’m suggesting is that parents might be held responsible for the financial costs of the threats their kids are making, so the very real costs that law enforcement have in investigating these threats and determining whether or not they’re real or not,” Petty said. 

More work needs to be done to determine which threats are hoaxes earlier on, to preserve resources for serious threats or other crimes, he said. 

“Being able to filter the real threats from the jokes, I think, is an area that — I don’t know that there’s necessary legislation there. But it’s something that we need to figure out how to do because we can’t keep chasing hundreds of, you know, jokes.”

‘It’s your responsibility’

Petty said it can come down to parents and children being transparent about social media use.

“I’ve got a message for parents that are listening,” Petty said. “You need to understand what your kids are doing online. These threats are often made online over social media apps like Instagram, TikTok, and other facilities. It’s your responsibility to understand what your kids are doing on social media.”

Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. echoed that thought.

“I want to send a clear message to our students and to their parents: Threats of any kind will not be tolerated, and you will be prosecuted to the highest degree possible,” Diaz said. 

Diaz said a “tremendous” number of threats have been made by “misguided students” and have “not been credible.”

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