School administrators in Luzerne and Lackawanna County say posts made to TikTok were trying to encourage people across the country to commit violence against schools. While no specific threat was made against any one district, many made changes to the school day.
Several school districts told students to stay home in response to threatening posts on social media.
The Scranton School District held classes virtually out of an abundance of caution.
Hanover Area School district in Luzerne County did the same.
Hanover Area Superintendent Nathan Barrett says the district dealt with some physical altercations between students this week, unrelated to the posts, but decided a virtual day was the best move.
"I never take out students' safety lightly," said Barrett. "Immediately following, these threats came out. Although they were not originated in Pennsylvania, it just looked like it was more than coincidental."
Districts that decided to hold in-person classes saw more absences.
Lackawanna Trail schools saw 20 percent of students attend virtually.
Wyoming Area School District Superintendent Janet Serino says their absence rate was even higher.
"We're down quite a bit of students. I'd say probably about 25 percent of students are not here today. I do understand that. Students are telling their parents of the threats that they have heard, and parents are sharing that with each other."
There was an increased police presence at Wyoming Area High School on Friday. Students were also required to walk through metal detectors and have their bags checked before arriving.
"What we wanted to do was beef up security, but make sure that our families knew that they could come here and that would be doing everything that we possibly could to keep the students safe and so that we could continue to be in school," Serino said.
Serino says monitoring social media is now a crucial piece of that puzzle.
"Fortunately, there was not a direct threat to Wyoming Area, but we're hearing everything around, not only in our county, but it's across the nation. that's what's frightening."
Hanover Area schools will be back in person on Monday. The superintendent says he's received positive feedback from parents following his decision. At Wyoming Area, Serino says safety is a group effort. She encourages students to keep open communication with teachers and parents.
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