BEACHWOOD, Ohio — In a letter sent to parents and guardians on Wednesday, Beachwood Schools superintendent Dr. Robert P. Hardis said that the school district has identified the individuals responsible for sending threats to middle school and high school students via Instagram over the course of the past month.
According to Hardis, the individuals responsible for the threats are minors, who will face legal consequences as a result of their actions. Hardis also said that while police determined during their investigation that there was never any threat of imminent harm to Beachwood students or staff, the minors’ actions caused "significant fear for many in our community, and Beachwood Schools will not tolerate threatening behavior of any kind."
"This is a good opportunity to remind your children, who have channels to communicate with others through their phones and social media platforms at all times of day, of the importance of reporting threatening and inappropriate messages and content to an adult as soon as possible," Hardis wrote. "Violent acts are rarely committed without some forewarning, and your children are often our best sources of information to help keep the entire community safe. Urge your children to talk to you, to any adult at school, or to contact the police department if they ever receive or see threatening and inappropriate messages."
In a letter sent to parents and guardians earlier this week, Hardis revealed that Beachwood City Schools and the Beachwood Police Department were investigating threatening messages that had been sent to students at the high school and middle school through Instagram. The messages threatened the recipient that if they don’t repost the sender’s post, the recipient will be harmed.
The district's security director, C.J. Piro, contacted Instagram’s parent company Meta to obtain the identity of the person who owns the account that has been making the threats.