No disruptions at Raytown South after online threat

Most Raytown South High School students attended classes Tuesday despite a social media threat made against the school.

Raytown police officers increased patrols around the school at 8211 Sterling Ave. in response to the threat, which someone posted Monday.

Nothing unusual occurred, said James Brafford, Raytown police communications director.

“We had our officers in the area as the kids were going into the building this morning, just in case,” Brafford said.

For Raytown school district students, this week’s threat was only the latest of several.

In September and December, police investigated bomb threats regarding Raytown South. Officers found no explosive devices.

In late January, students at Raytown High School, 6019 Blue Ridge Blvd., attended classes despite social media threats directed against a “Rhs” high school. Officials at several other schools across the country bearing those initials monitored similar threats.

Following dismissal of classes Monday, Raytown South students and their parents noted a threat against the school on Instagram and alerted district officials.

“It is troubling,” said Cathy Allie, Raytown school district spokeswoman.

“It takes a lot of time on the part of a lot of people to assess a threat, determine its credibility and then chart a course of action going forward,” she said.

She thanked the Raytown South students and parents who alerted district officials to the Instagram threat.

“They feel passionately about their school and we are grateful to them,” she said

Raytown police officers had a lead on the origin of Monday’s threat, Allie said.

“Everybody thinks that social media is completely anonymous, but there is always a path such a threat takes and people are becoming more savvy in tracing those paths,” she said.

Anyone with information about the threats can call the Tips Hotline at 816-474-8477, the Raytown school district at 816-268-7000 or the Raytown Police Department at 816-737-6020.

This story was originally published March 8, 2016 at 4:29 PM with the headline "No disruptions at Raytown South after online threat."