In just two weeks, 25 threats have come into Seminole County schools.

  • Seminole authorities make arrests following threats
  • More than 25 threats have come into Seminole schools
  • Along with criminal charges, students could also face expulsion

Fortunately, none of the threats have been credible dangers, but that has not stopped law enforcement from making arrests.

On Thursday, a 13 year-old student was arrested at Jackson Heights Middle School in Oviedo. A police report said the boy became frustrated and yelled at 15 to 20 students that he was going to “shoot up the school.”

The threat was not taken lightly – he was removed from class, then arrested and charged with threatening to discharge a destructive device.

"Behavior that is threatening and capitalizing on the fear of others will not be tolerated in Seminole County,” said Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma in a press conference later Thursday.

Lemma was joined by two city police chiefs and the Seminole County Superintendent for the press conference. They explained how high of a priority school safety remains.

"School safety is something we work on 365/24/7. I receive two briefings a day, just to learn what is going on in the community, because frequently what happens in the community (spills) over into our schools,” said Dr. Walt Griffin, Seminole County Superintendent.

On Wednesday, another threat was discovered on social media too. That threat was found by Casselberry Police.

Police said they tracked the threat back to a phone that belonged to a 12-year-old girl. The child attends South Seminole Middle School. Police said they did not find any weapons or explosives at her home or the school campus.

Police said the girl is a model student and that her reason for the threat was more childish than harmful.

"She was upset about some of the other children that were speaking in a poor way regarding the Parkland shooting, and that troubled her,” said Chief Larry Krantz, Casselberry Police. “In her 12-year-old mind she thought this was the way to get the message across to other kids who were in the school that were making fun of the other incident to realize how serious these situations are.”

Either way, threats within the school district will result in arrests, says officials.

Both law enforcement and school administration did have a message for parents.

"I think that as parents, we can become complacent. I think that on the heels of situations like this it is an awareness, it's eye opening for us,” said Sheriff Lemma. “I think that sometimes we feel that it is ok, everything is fine, we don't need to do it. But I can tell you as a dad I need to do it a lot more than I do.”

"Put down your phones and look in your child's eyes and speak to them. Find out what is going on in their lives, ask them some tough questions – is there anything different about your child's behavior or maybe some of their friends’ behavior?” said Dr. Griffin.

Along with criminal charges, the students could also face expulsion.