RIVERSIDE, Mo. — There is an increased police presence at Park Hill South High School Friday morning after the school district received a false threat. 

A spokesperson for the district said the school received multiple tips of a “generic social media threat” Friday morning. Police say the threats aren’t credible and are part of a national hoax that is being circulated around the nation. 

Park Hill families received this email from the district Friday morning: 

Dear Park Hill Families,

We wanted to connect with you to make you aware of some communication we’ve been working on throughout the early morning hours today. We were made aware of a social media screen shot describing a threat to a generic “school.” In this screen shot, the post describes a threat to “the school and students.” The original screen shot is then overlaid with multiple comments on TikTok and potentially other social media platforms.

The original screen shot also has an overlay of text that says, “My exit ticket out of school.”

We have been investigating this threat and have been working with our law enforcement partners throughout the morning.

With this, we have been made aware that P3 Tips (associated with the Crimestoppers hotline) has been receiving calls regarding this screen shot as well. P3 Tips confirms that this is a national, broad hoax that is circulating around the country. At this point, we don’t have reason to believe it was targeted at Park Hill South High School (where the initial concerns originated) or any of our Park Hill schools. This is happening in multiple states.

We do have additional law enforcement partners on duty at Park Hill South this morning, simply as an extreme cautionary measure. We have also increased law enforcement patrols on Park Hill School District campuses.

Thank you to all of you who’ve called Riverside police, the Kansas City Police Department and us to make us aware of your concerns. You have helped with the culture of reporting a concern when you see one. We appreciate the phone calls and the alertness of our staff, families and students.

We commit to keeping you updated if we learn more regarding this specific incident.

In service, Kelly Wachel
Director of Communication Services