As the new school year begins, safety is a top priority for Central Florida school districts.

  • School districts monitoring social media posts for threats
  • Software like Digital Fly can only track public posts
  • Districts can search keywords and phrases

"Social media monitoring is in its infancy," said Mike Richez, executive vice president with OSC World, the maker of Digital Fly, which is a social media awareness software designed for school districts.

Richez said many school districts are looking into similar software that could help them identify a threat on social media before it's too late.

The growing trend was discussed at the 11th annual National School Safety Conference, which is being held in Osceola County.

Richez said more school districts are considering using social media awareness software to scan and monitor sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in real time for bullying and potential threats.

"Then filtered terms are plugged in," Richez said. "It could be related to drugs, it could be related to self-harm, it could be related to violence. If I put down something like, 'I hate my teacher, I'm going to kill her,' we can put in phrases that match exactly that."

An instant alert then comes through if there's a match.

Meanwhile, awareness is something safety advocates said is often necessary in today's society.

"It's no longer considered a safe haven," said Curt Lavarello, executive director of School Safety Advocacy Council. "A school is as vulnerable as any other aspect of the community, and so technology is playing an increasingly important role in the day-to-day care for our students and our teachers in our schools."

Programs like Digital Fly do have limitations, though. They can only monitor social media posts that are public. Therefore, protected accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram wouldn't show up. Snapchat also wouldn't show up in programs like Digital Fly.

"If it's something as drastic as a potential threat, then the police department would have to be notified by the school district," Richez said.