Heightened security at Heard County schools

HEARD COUNTY, Ga. — Students, faculty and parents noticed an increase in security at schools in Heard County Thursday after a threat was made on social media.

The FBI alerted local authorities Wednesday night to a threat on an obscure website.

The threat read: “Some of you guys are alright- don’t go to HCHS in Franklin GA on 11:28 a.m. tomorrow.”

“That’s a typical class change time for us,” Heard County High School Principal Rodney Kay said.

Kay said police presence on and off campus is normal, but they wanted to take extra precautions and step up security.

The school system let parents decide whether or not to let their student attend class.

“We didn’t feel like it was our place to cancel school because there was nothing specific, but we also didn’t feel like we should withhold anything from our parents,” Kay said.

Cheryl Clark learned of the threat around 6:30 a.m. Thursday, but decided her son would go to school after his morning doctor appointment, regardless of the time or threat.

“My life cannot stop just because somebody wants to put out terroristic threats,” she said.

The student body of about 650 was whittled down to nearly 100 following the threat.

Sydney Lee was one of the students in class and said they did not get much done.

“We did nothing. All we did was just sit in class and watch movies,” she said.

Kay said 11:28 a.m. came and went without incident. He said it is unfortunate that a learning day was wasted.

“It is a lost instructional day, so that’s detrimental from the standpoint of learning,” he said.

Syndey Lee’s father said he is glad his daughter was safe during the school day.

"We texted a few times back and forth and as long as she was OK, I was OK," Scotty Lee said. "If she'd said she wanted to come home, we'd come and got her."
Franklin police said they have a person of interest.

Police will continue their presence at the school Friday.

WSBTV