COLORADO SPRINGS — There have been non-credible threats directed at five different school districts in our area this week alone.
That includes Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8, Colorado Springs School District 11, Academy School District 20, School District 49 and Woodland Park School District.
While the threats turned out not to be real, they are causing anxiety among some parents.
We spoke with a mental health specialist about how to talk to your children about these issues, so they can be informed while also feeling safe.
"Sending him to school and not knowing if he's going to come home, that's, that's scary," said a concerned mom with a first-grade son, Krista Kellogg.
Feeling fearful, angry or sad are natural emotions, but it is how you react with your kids that matters, said the chief clinical officer at Diversus Health, Katie Blickenderfer.
"If you're telling them I'm really anxious about dropping you off at school because I'm worried a school shooter is going to show up today, the kids going to be like, what's going on with mom, I should be worried too," said Blickenderfer.
She said it's important to have conversations with kids, at any age, so they feel prepared, not scared, for potential threats.
"You want them to be safe and you want them to live life," said Blickenderfer. "For elementary-aged kids, use language that they understand, they don't know what an active shooter is, but they may know a bad guy with a gun."
"It's just kids doing stupid stuff on the internet just to look cool and I'm most certain that 98% of them have never even gotten close to any of it," said a D11 high school student, Elisha Boenisch.
Elisha and his dad Jake said they weren't worried about going back to school.
"That's just the way we respond to it, we try not to live in any fear because then you're probably going to react," said Jake.
D11 and D20 say they had extra security at the affected schools and operated normally.
D49's spokesperson did not want to share anything further than what was sent to families. He said it's because the district does not want to bring any more attention to this issue.
I didn't get a response from District 8 by deadline.
"We had earthquake drills and fire drills, and he's having active shooter drills, that just boggles my mind, these are things that I didn't have to think about as a child," said Kellogg.
Blickenderfer recommends seeking professional help if you or your kids are isolating or living in fear more often than not.
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