Chardon High Attendance Diminished After Threat
Seventy-three percent came to school on Friday after message left in boys restroom stall
Chardon High School attendance was at 73 percent on Friday, according to Superintendent Michael Hanlon, likely a reaction to a vague threat scrawled on a boys restroom stall six weeks ago that mentioned the day’s date.
Yet the perception was different in a school with a shooting in its past.
“It looked like a ghost town to me,” one teacher said.
“SYL 4/12” was the message, and images of the same were more recently circulated among several high school students via text messages and social media, according to an email sent from the school.
It was presumed that SYL stood for Save Your Lives.
Chardon increased its police presence at the school, but after the administration investigated, it was deemed not to be a threat.
“First, it is important to remember that the original message written at the High School has found to not be a threat,” read an email from the school.
The email continued: “Second, there in no way shape or form has been any threat made to the students or staff at Chardon Middle School. School began without incident, and has been running smoothly and as expected so far today.”
“It is more prevalent now than it was 20 years ago,” Hanlon said of school threats. “It’s a different day and age with social media and the way that information travels, and we need to stay on top of that.
“It’s the underlying responsibility of the community and the administration to take these threats seriously.”
School emails also reminded families of anonymous safety reporting procedures, including a phone number and a website link.
