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Education

Man Arrested in Georgia Charged With Making Palm Beach County School Bomb Threats

Allen Eyestone / Palm Beach Post
Students are evacuated from Jupiter High School on Feb. 2.

A man suspected of making bomb threats to two Palm Beach County high schools earlier this year was arrested in Georgia Tuesday. Palm Beach schools have already received more than twice as many violent threats this year as they did all of last school year.

 

Twenty-five-year-old Preston McWaters could face charges carrying up to 20 years in federal prison for emailed bomb threats that led to the evacuation of a Jupiter high school in February. “Thousands and thousands of taxpayer dollars have been wasted running after this kind of pranks,” Palm Beach Superintendent Robert Avossa told reporters. Avossa called the arrest “a wakeup call for anyone who thinks they can make a threat. They will get caught. It’s just a matter of time,” he said.  

But school security analyst Ken Trump says the most pressing challenge regarding school threats isn’t usually the investigation: “It’s managing community expectations, anxiety, reducing misinformation and rumors.”

    Trump says the spike in electronic threats to Palm Beach schools mirrors a national trend. But in most districts, he says training and data that could help officials spot or prevent a hoax still hasn’t caught up to the problem.

 

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