Security measures were heightened at Eastlake High School in Chula Vista on Monday in response to a ninth grade student's Tweet warning of a school shooting — a threat later determined to have been a hoax, officials said.
In a statement on the school's website, Principal Maria Esther Lizarraga said school officials were alerted to the threat involving a student on Saturday and had since been working with police. Authorities have launched an investigation and contacted the student's family.
"At Eastlake High School, we take safety and security of our students very seriously and we assure you that we will do all we can to maintain a safe and secure campus," Lizarraga said.
She added that a school resource officer from the Chula Vista Police Department would be at Eastlake High School on Monday along with additional security personnel.
Sweetwater Unified High School District's Manny Rubio said that the boy's parents knew about the Twitter threat but didn't take it seriously.
"It seemed like the parents were aware of what was going on. The parents seemed to think that it was something that had been done previously," Rubio said. "My understanding from police is that the student was apologetic, the student felt bad.”
Rubio explained one of Sweetwater's biggest challenges is getting students and parents to understand that once something is online it never goes away.
“Someone grabbed a screenshot of it; someone is going to find it. It’s going to be out there forever," Rubio warned. "So we want to teach students that that’s there, and these things can have potential consequences down the road.”
The student responsible for the threat was asked not to attend classes Monday and the district is considering possible disciplinary action.
