My daughter was among the one-third of the students that did not attend school today because of a threat upon her school.

Just days after a school shooting in Santa Fe, TX, parents like myself are more concerned about their child's safety while at school. Many parents naively think nothing like a school shooting will happen at their child's school, yet there is a remote possibility of it happening. Schools take these threats seriously and run practice drills for active shooters and threats just like they do fire and tornado drills just in case the unimaginable and unthinkable happens on campus.

This morning I learned that my daughters school was unfortunately the target of such a threat. Learning about the possible threat circulating on social media early Tuesday morning, one of her friends called to alert us about the concern. After learning about this I tried calling her school to confirm the rumors, but was met with a voicemail greeting. I then called the Tyler ISD Police department and the person that answered the phone confirmed there was a threat made upon the school but that the district police force was handling the situation and couldn't say more. He did go on to say though that there would be extra officers and security on campus along with dogs.

I then made the decision to keep her home from school and tried to call the school to report her absence, but was greeted with the voicemail again with a full mailbox and was sent to another that was full as well. I know I wasn't the only parent concerned and calling the school to find out some answers.

Three Lakes Middle School did send out a text alert to parents alerting them to the situation.

Lucky Larry, Mix 93-1
Lucky Larry, Mix 93-1
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According to East Texas Matters, Dawn Parnell, TISD Communications Director said that Three Lakes Middle School normal attendance runs about 95%, but today the attendance rate dropped to 61%. Tyler ISD Superintendent Dr. Marty Crawford did write a letter alerting parents what the district is doing and had done to assess these kind of threats and posted it on the TISD website. (Note, when you click on the link, if the letter does not open on a new webpage and you get a blank page like I did, look in your downloads for the letter).

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