School officials and law enforcement agencies across Clark County are urging students and families to report potential school threats directly to authorities instead of sharing them on social media, launching a public awareness campaign aimed at improving school safety and limiting the spread of misinformation.
The “Report, Don’t Repost” campaign brings together school districts, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, additional law enforcement agencies and Educational Service District 112 to provide resources and guidance on how to respond to threatening or concerning online posts.
The initiative follows a rise in reports of potential threats circulating on social media, prompting school leaders and law enforcement to emphasize the importance of reporting concerns through appropriate channels.
“Online school threats can spread in seconds,” Clark County Sheriff John Horch said during the campaign announcement. “Screenshots circulate, rumors grow, people worry, families start worrying.”
Horch said people may share threatening posts because they want to protect their friends or family, but repeated sharing can complicate investigations by making it more difficult to locate the original post and identify who is responsible.
“Take a screenshot, report it, don't repost it,” Horch said. “You do not have to decide whether the threat is real before reporting it. That's our job.”
Chelsea Quiggle, a Clark County Sheriff’s Office school resource officer at Prairie High School, said social media-related incidents frequently require intervention because students do not always consider the consequences of their words.
“It's pretty frequent,” Quiggle said. “Our kids, we know that their brains are not fully developed, they don't have that prefrontal cortex fully intact yet, so they're really quick to say things without thinking ahead or thinking how it will impact others or themselves in the future.”
Quiggle said many incidents involve students posting comments out of frustration or anger without intending to carry out a threat.
“That's mainly the conversations that we're having, is that the kids are saying things in the heat of the moment without there being any validity to it, and trying to educate them on using different terminology and understanding how their words impact others,” she said.
Even when a post is not credible, school officials and law enforcement must determine whether it presents a legitimate safety concern. Quiggle said incidents involving potential threats can heighten security awareness, while conversations among students sometimes cause information to become distorted.
“They start talking about it and the potential threats, or you know, that game of telephone happens, and it sounds like a threat, but it's just them talking about a situation,” she said.
Quiggle said schools already have protocols in place to respond to concerns and work to address issues before they escalate. She also emphasized the importance of giving students a way to report information without fearing judgment from their peers.
“A lot of kids don't want to be seen as a snitch or a rat, right? Those are their words,” she said.
Quiggle said she has placed posters with QR codes in bathroom stalls at Prairie High School to direct students to the Vector reporting system.
“So providing that anonymous (option), they're able to get us the information so we can do our jobs, but still preserve their feelings as well,” Quiggle said.
Student perspectives are also central to the campaign. During the news conference, Addi Juhnke, a junior at Prairie High School and a school board representative for the Battle Ground Public Schools district, described how quickly information can spread among students and create fear before anyone confirms the facts.
“In today's world, a single screenshot, message, or social media post can reach hundreds of students within minutes,” Juhnke said. “And sometimes the information is accurate, but other times it's misleading or entirely untrue. Regardless, rumors can create fear and confusion before the facts are established.”
Juhnke said students need to understand that reporting a concern is different from accusing someone publicly or creating unnecessary alarm. She also spoke about the importance of school administrators making the reporting process accessible and protecting students who come forward, citing her own experience the previous year.
“They made the process straightforward, took my concerns seriously, and kept my name out of the situation,” Juhnke said, describing her experience reporting a concern to school administration.
She said that experience demonstrated how administrators can help students feel supported and confident that their safety concerns will be taken seriously.
Ridgefield School District Superintendent Dr. Jenny Rodriquez said the district plans to distribute campaign information to students, staff and families through existing communication networks, including a key communicators team and the Superintendent's Student Advisory Council.
Rodriquez said social media presents challenges beyond school threats, including its effects on students' mental health and anxiety.
For Ridgefield, efforts to reduce cellphone use during the school day have also produced positive results. Rodriquez said the district has seen a decline in disciplinary incidents related to social media since implementing its cellphone policy.
“Having those off and away all day, including during passing periods and at lunch, has significantly reduced behaviors that were related to social media and just cell phone use in general since we implemented that new policy,” Rodriquez said.
Rodriquez encouraged families to contact district staff or school principals when they have questions or concerns rather than relying on social media for official information.
“I think it is just really important to remind folks, report and don't repost,” she said. “And also, social media is probably not the official communication channel for both school districts and also for our emergency partners.”
The campaign's resources, including posters, social media graphics and reporting guidance, are available at reportdontrepost.org.
Officials say students do not need to determine whether a threat is credible before reporting it. By preserving information and sending it directly to school officials or law enforcement, students and families can help investigators respond while limiting the spread of rumors.
As Juhnke told those gathered at the news conference, “When a post raises a safety concern, report it rather than post it.”
