Threats Close Pocahontas Schools on 9-11-24

Some students may have been pleasantly surprised, but many parents were upset when they received a message from the Pocahontas County Schools early on Wednesday morning, September 11^th that schools would be closed that day. Many parents were still preparing their kids for school when the message closing schools arrived. The original message offered no explanation as to the reason why schools would be closed on Wednesday, September 11^th.

We contacted School Superintendent Lynn Bostic later in the day and we will have an accurate update about the situation in a story in the very near future, since new and revised information is still coming in about this fluid situation.

Bostic did put out the following statement:

“Good evening. We are aware and saddened about the continued threats to schools across our state and nation. Tonight, we have been working with our local law enforcement, State Police, Capital Police, and our safety contact at the WV Department of Education. We will continue to monitor the situation with law enforcement throughout the night. At this time, we plan to have school with an increase in law enforcement in our county. Please know we are all concerned. We are parents, mothers, daughters, sons, fathers, grandparents, and friends. We all will work together to keep our students, staff, and communities as safe as possible.”

We will keep you updated about the situation, which is not limited to Pocahontas County, but is being experienced state-wide and beyond. One recent update is that there was a very recent threat sent visa Snap Chat which mentioned “PCHS” specifically saying “Your next” and included a photo of a handgun sitting in someone’s lap, however that message originated in Georgia, and there are many other schools across the country, including Pendleton County High School here in West Virginia that are commonly referred to as “PCHS.” In any event, local law enforcement will be keeping a close eye on our schools today. The schools and law enforcement, including both local and the FBI, are investigating all of this to ensure the safety of our students,

If there is any solace, it is that actual school shootings have always come without warnings and have caught schools completely by surprise. It would appear that sending out a warning about an upcoming school shooting would be a rather stupid thing for someone who intended to actually do it, unless they are just trying to cause panic rather then actually do it. However, the school system and law enforcement are very correct in treating these threats so seriously, just in case.

Again, we will have a more detailed story on this in the very near future.