Students at Garland High School who went to school Wednesday morning were greeted by an influx of metal detectors and law enforcement officers after a possible threat came to the attention of the campus’s administration.
Parents were notified by email as well as social media.
“Safety and security are our top priorities, and we take rumors, social media posts, and reported concerns very seriously,” wrote Garland High School Principal Holly Hines, per a tweet by the Garland Independent School District (GISD).
The possible threat, made on Tuesday, comes during the week GISD students are supposed to take their STAAR exams.
GISD’s notification mentioned that makeup opportunities for the exam could be “limited in quantity” and that extra police officers and portable metal detectors would be deployed on campus for the day.
“The Garland Police Department is actively investigating the situation. We will provide updates as we receive information from law enforcement,” Hines wrote.
While no additional information about the nature of the threat was immediately available to The Dallas Express, GISD’s move to beef up security at Garland High School follows a rash of school shootings in the North Texas area during the spring.
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, two students were shot at an Arlington high school on the morning of March 20. One of the students was killed by the gunfire.
The following day, a student was shot in the arm at a North Dallas high school in the Dallas Independent School District. At a subsequent press conference, DISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde blamed the incident on the rampant crime in Dallas.
“We all know that violence is up in our Dallas community,” acknowledged Elizalde, The Dallas Express reported.
Murders have been on the rise citywide, with the most recent City data through May 2 indicating they are up by 23.1% year to date compared to 2022, according to the City of Dallas Open Data crime analytics dashboard.
