LILLINGTON, N.C.-- In the past few weeks, several students have come to court in Harnett County, charged with making violent threats at school. Now it’s not just the students, but parents, who could face consequences.
Harnett County Sheriff Wayne Coats recalled one bomb threat on a note.
“It stated two bombs, two locations, two days," he said.
The threat shut down an entire high school and triggered a mass emergency response.
“We had K9s from Fort Bragg, K9s from Raleigh Police Department, K9s from the state capitol and the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office,” said Coats.
Investigators didn't find anything at the Harnett County school last week, but it’s a search and response the superintendent says they’ve had to do more often.
“We’re expending fuel, we’re using staff time, we’re bringing other administrators in to assist with this, we’re using instructional dollars for that,” said Harnett County Schools Superintendent Aaron Fleming.
He says the costs are starting to add up.
“It’s disappointing. So how do we recoup those cost that have been pulled out of the classroom in order to deal with the mess we’ve had to deal with?” said Fleming.
Members of the Harnett County Board of Commissioenrs have been talking about making parents pay for it.
That means, if your child were to make a bomb threat or the like, you, the parent, would have to foot the bill.
“I totally agree with it, I think that if your children make that decision, ultimately we are responsible, we’re their parents,” said parent Jennifer Smith.
Area leaders estimate the cost could be upward of $30,000.
“If any child does anything that’s unacceptable, it falls on the parents. Even if they don’t turn in a library book, who’s paying the fine? They have to be responsible,” said parent Tiarra Kernan-Davis.
It’s not just Harnett County though. In Cumberland County, too, the sheriff’s office has been talking about the same thing because of the amount of threats coming in.
The sheriff’s office says school threats are up ten times the norm, and they say a cost to parents could change that.
