BUCKEYE, Ariz. — Parents are on edge as threats continue to plague Arizona schools.
"It's getting a little too close to home," Maureen Nicholson, a Buckeye parent, said. "I want to make sure my children are being protected and safe at school."
Liberty Elementary School District partnered with West Valley law enforcement agencies on Tuesday evening to explain how they investigate these threats.
"It's a big puzzle. We work it very aggressively," Liberty Elementary School District Governing Board President Michael Todd said. "It's immediate phone calls from the police departments, from our staff, back and forth conference calls to start fleshing out the system, finding out if this threat is real, if it's not real."
The Buckeye Police Department said it received over 300 reports from concerned citizens about threats of school shootings last week.
Chief Bob Sanders said the main threat started online in Ohio, but was reposted and modified to Arizona schools.
None of the posted threats turned out to be true, Sanders said.
"From a department perspective, all threats we consider credible," Sanders said. "They're all concerning and there's parents out there worried about their children."
Despite the threats being unfounded, it shook the community.
Buckeye police increased officer presence on and around campuses. Some parents chose not to send their kids to school.
"I just kept them home. They can't be harmed there," Erin Cafirma, a Buckeye parent, said. "It was hard to bring them back to school yesterday."
Both Sanders and school administrators stress there is zero tolerance for people who create or share any threat.
"They will be aggressively disciplined, but we got to find that student and we got to prove that student did it," Todd said.
Police arrested two Buckeye students after they allegedly made false reports that led to chaos on campus last week.
"There was a student who posted a picture of a handgun. It ended up being a BB gun but we can't determine that over a picture," Sanders said. "The other one was a student who claimed they saw a gun on campus."
Officials made it clear reporting possible threats is encouraged.
"The more eyes and ears we have in this world today, looking out for our safety, the better it is for everyone," Todd said.
Administrators used this meeting to also remind parents of the policies they have in place to keep students safe, including school resource officers and lockdown procedures.
A reminder parents said they needed to hear.
"Trying to just have faith that knowing that my kids are safe at school and I'm a phone call or text message away," Nicholson said.
Administrators encouraged parents to go home and talk with their kids about the safety measures discussed at the meeting.
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