photo by: Ashley Hocking

Billy Mills Middle School, 2734 Louisiana St., is pictured on Nov. 3, 2018.

Updated at 4:33 p.m. Monday

Hundreds of students at Billy Mills Middle School stayed home from school last week after a student reportedly threatened the building. The Lawrence Police Department also increased a police presence at the building as a safety precaution.

Meanwhile, two more threats, later determined to be made up, were reported at other Lawrence middle schools in the district, the district said Monday.

District spokeswoman Julie Boyle said in an email to the Journal-World on Monday that 65 students were absent on Thursday and 195 were absent on Friday from Billy Mills, which is roughly 35% of the school’s 550 students. The increase in absences came days after the district responded to a report of a student making a threat on the school, which the district and police determined did not pose immediate danger to students.

Boyle said the district believes the substantial increase of absences was directly related to a rumor of a second threat on the school that stemmed from the original report, but the district investigated the matter again and found no evidence of an additional threat being made. Boyle said the district believes the rumor was either an issue of misinformation or a hoax.

“The district takes threats of any kind seriously and investigates thoroughly, including involving our law enforcement partners,” Boyle said. “Students should understand that there are serious consequences for making threats and for spreading misinformation online. We encourage school families to discuss these concerns with their children at home, including their own family’s expectations for their children’s behavior on and offline.”

On Monday, only 35 students were absent from Billy Mills, which Boyle said is a typical number of daily absences for the school.

Lt. David Ernst of the Lawrence Police Department on Monday confirmed the department had increased its police presence at the school last week. He said the step was taken as a precaution.

“While we did not have information to suggest any specific act was going to occur, we were aware of the safety concerns of students and parents and wanted to have a presence at the school,” Ernst said. “We continue to closely communicate with the school district on this matter.”

Later on Monday, Boyle said two more reports were made related to Southwest Middle School and Liberty Memorial Central Middle School.

At Southwest, Boyle said a student called 911 and reported that a shooting had occurred at the school. However, Boyle said no shooting occurred, nor did the school believe there was a safety concern at the school. Boyle said school staff notified the police and the student’s family of the false report and plans to take action following school policies.

“While we cannot discuss student disciplinary matters due to student privacy rights, we can share that there are serious consequences for any student falsely reporting a crime and by doing so, threatening the safety of our schools,” Boyle said.

Additionally, Boyle said a Liberty Memorial student reported to staff that another student wrote a threat against the school on a note being passed between students. School administration and police investigated and interviewed the student and a parent. Boyle said the student admitted that the note was a hoax and the district believes there is no credible threat against the school.

“We ask school families to please talk to their children about the seriousness of false reports of school violence and threats,” Boyle said. “Our schools will not tolerate this behavior and will continue to take action and involve law enforcement, which could lead to possible criminal charges.”

As the Journal-World previously reported, Billy Mills Principal Andrew Taylor and Assistant Principal Kady Carson said in a message to families last week that students reported another student had made the threatening comment. After staff was informed, the school worked with a school resource officer to meet with the student and a parent to investigate the matter, which resulted in a police report being filed.

The administrators said the comments from the student did not pose a risk to other students. Additionally, while noting that student disciplinary actions are confidential, the school said it had “initiated appropriate action” based on its student handbook and district policies.

Later, on Friday, Boyle said in an email that the school received more reports of concerns being shared on social media about a threat on the building. However, Boyle said an investigation found that the comments were related to the original threat and no “new” threat was made against the school.