The number of Ector County Independent School District students accused of making threats has fallen dramatically since the district opted to stop issuing news release every time a minor threat was made.
According to records obtained from the Ector County Youth Center under the Texas Public of Information Act, 33 students were detained at the facility from Aug. 9 through Dec. 16, but only three have been detained since Dec. 17, when ECISD Superintendent Scott Muri announced they’d no longer issue news releases on such arrests.
At the time, Muri said he believed some of the students were engaging in copy cat behavior.
While only three students have been detained for allegedly making threats, ECISD Chief Communications Officer Mike Adkins said a fourth child is going through the court system without being detained and a fifth student is under 10 and too young to face criminal charges.
While the numbers have fallen dramatically, but Adkins said nothing has changed with the way potential threats are reported, investigated or charged.
“This is a serious issue for our school district and our community,” Adkins said. “We feel (the decline) is the result of school staff and parents working together to not only emphasize the consequences that come from threats and violent behavior, but also talking with students about better ways to react when they are feeling frustrated or angry or scared.”
In addition, Adkins said, ECISD police saw what they believed to be copy-cat behavior at some schools late in the fall semester.
“We felt the regular press releases, messages to parents, and announcements to students were perpetuating the bad behavior by keeping it top-of-mind for them,” Akins said.
The number of overall kids being detained in the ECYC reached a high of 32 in October, forcing staff to reassess the threat level of each one to determine which ones could go home because they had to lower the facility’s population.
During an October interview,Maria Sosa, assistant director of the Ector County Juvenile Probation Department, and other members of the probation department blamed the increase in threat cases on COVID-19.
They said many kids forgot how to socialize with others during the lockdown and have grown used to communicating via social media.
In addition, they said studies have shown that the frontal lobe, the part of the brain that controls impulsivity and helps humans make decisions, isn’t fully developed until age 25 or so.
Most of the kids were remorseful and now realize the seriousness of their words, probation staff said.
According to the probation department, of the 33 kids detained prior to Dec. 17, 40% were 12 or younger and six were girls.
The three kids detained since Dec. 17 were all boys, ages 11, 13 and 16.
