School year kicks off with a potential threat at a Seminole County high school

Around 68,000 students in Seminole County went back to school Monday for the 2019-2020 school year.

The new school year started with a potential threat at Lake Brantley High School. Seminole County School officials said a former student made a social media post that was threatening in nature. Altamonte Springs Police and the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office followed up on the threat and found it was not credible.

New this year, larger schools in the district will have more police presence, thanks to new state dollars. “I want to make sure that every student, in case they were concerned about anything, if they didn’t feel right, mentally or physically, that they had someone to turn to,” said Superintendent Dr. Walt Griffin.

Dr. Griffin said social media is a big concern and warns parents and students to speak up if they see something suspicious and to be careful about the security risks of their own posts.

“We had a couple of cases last year, parents meaning well, would go on social media and say the back gate is open… a security risk anything like that. Good people and bad people read [social media]. Please stay off social media and work with your school administration to keep our children as safe as possible.”

Dr. Griffin visited all nine high schools in Seminole County on Monday to greet students and teachers. For the majority of students heading back to school today it was a day of excitement.

“Oh, I’ve never seen that boy so happy. Took his picture and everything. He was like, let’s go rock this mom,” said Tina Cox about her son who started his sophomore year at Seminole High School.

Mom Michele Reaves said it was hectic first day for her three kids. “Drop off was awful, to be expected, the car line was very, very long but I made it through it. I was able to walk the kids into the classroom which was really, really important to me.”