On Wednesday afternoon, parents of Greene County Middle School students received a message from the principal of the school about a new TikTok challenge. 

The message said: 

Hello, this is Diane Blackman, principal of Greene County Middle School. This afternoon, we were made aware of a TikTok challenge involving skipping school tomorrow. This evolved into a threat that there will be a shooting at school tomorrow. Law enforcement has been notified. This is not a credible threat. There will be an increased police presence at the school tomorrow. We take all threats seriously and investigate them thoroughly. School safety is a top priority at Greene County Middle School. 

Parents soon took to social media to share their concerns and questioned the sequence of events that led to the message being sent out. 

Dr. Frank Creech, Chief Academic Officer for Greene County Public Schools said that a teacher at Greene County Middle School had overheard a student talking about a TikTok challenge that encouraged students to skip tomorrow. When the students at Greene County Middle School heard about skipping school, not all of them knew it came from a TikTok challenge which led to their speculation about a school shooting. After a thorough investigation, the administration was able to determine that the shooting threat was not credible. 

“Parents are the best teachers,” said Creech who is thankful for their support and hopes they will continue to reiterate the message to their children, “If they see things on social media that is concerning, let us know, let their teachers know so it can be handled and so that there is no threat that becomes acted upon.”