(PSS) — Interim Commissioner of Education Donna M. Flores said individuals who make terroristic or any kind of threats, including violence against students and personnel, or are causing disruption of school operations will be dealt with accordingly.
“Making terroristic threats or threats to life, property and any form of threat and violence will not be tolerated. Anyone who is found responsible for doing this will have a heavy weight to bear, so now, I say one more time: whoever is making these threats please stop,” she said.
Flores has met with the Department of Public Safety and other law enforcement agencies over the weekend to discuss the threats against schools made through social media platforms. Agencies said there are laws, both local and federal, that impose penalties on perpetrators.
PSS and DPS were working with cyber security experts to locate the origin of the threats made through social media against students and/or schools last week.
“We have to deal with this accordingly because of the cost and impact of these threats on our schools and government resources, not to mention the impact of every threat on the emotional, mental and academic lives of our students,” Flores said.
“Because we take every threat seriously, addressing them takes resources away from PSS and our law enforcement partners,” she added.
PSS said threats to students, schools and school property by a student is considered a “Category 1” offense which will be dealt with suspension and may result in expulsion and referral to law enforcement.
The 2022 PSS Student Discipline Policy mentioned these offenses: chronic disruption of school program and/or activities; disruptive behavior which results in interference with a normal school program; failure to assume responsibility for, or to control his/her behavior; participating in, or inciting a school disruption; and making a bomb threat.
The Board of Education-PSS Rules and Regulations as codified by the 2019 CNMI Law Revision Commission include “Category III – Offenses which shall result in expulsion and referral to law enforcement: Acts of terrorism (such as bomb threats).”
The CNMI government has also enacted a law that imposes tough penalties on threats and perpetrators of threats.
Public Law 12-83 penalizes the “crime of terroristic threatening in the Commonwealth.”
It states that “a person commits the crime of terroristic threatening if the person knowingly makes a false report that a circumstance dangerous to human life exists or is about to exist”; or “places a person in fear of physical injury to any person, causes an evacuation of a building or causes serious public inconvenience.”
A person convicted under this section may be punished by imprisonment for a term not to exceed 10 years, or a fine not to exceed $10,000 or both.
Appeal to parents
Interim Commissioner Flores is also appealing to parents and guardians of students, and the community, as a whole, to continue educating their children on the importance of using social media responsibly.
“We need our parents and everyone out there to be educated about the dangers of social media when their use is unregulated or unguided,” she said.
PSS is now looking at imposing restrictions on social media on campus. Parents, for their part, can do the same by regulating their children’s use of social media.
Flores noted that parents and guardians of public school students have signed an agreement with PSS on the use of PSS-issued laptops and iPads.
Flores is also reminding CNMI community members that if they believe there is an immediate threat to a school, call 911.
‘Listen to your child’
At home, parents can detect — and prevent — potential problems regarding their children’s behavior.
“Your child could be facing difficulties and challenges and may be having a hard time expressing them — talk to them, hug them,” Flores said.
“We parents have intervention roles that can prevent potential problems and challenges involving our child. We can help prevent these if we listen to them — if we are there to check on them regularly: their needs, their challenges and difficulties,” Flores said.
She said PSS has a team of mental health professionals, and is assisting schools with various intervention programs while working with parents address issues involving the mental health and well-being of every child/student.
“This is an all-hands approach for us at PSS,” Flores said. “We have programs that could assist our parents and provide them with an intervention approach that will help ensure that their children have the support they need when they come to school,” she added.
