Houston Area School Districts Respond to Creepy Clown Hoaxes

HOUSTON, TX — The creepy clown memes and videos that have permeated social media sites for the last couple of years have evolved into threats to some area school districts, resulting in increased security.

School districts in Spring ISD, Alvin ISD and Goose Creek Consolidated ISD called in extra security Monday after threats against schools were posted on a Facebook page used by a group called "Aint Clownin Around."

The Houston Independent School District also received the threat but did not increase security.

Last week, school districts throughout the Houston area were besieged with so-called threats from creepy clown accounts on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Humble ISD and Houston ISD sent letters home to parents late last week about the hoaxes, while Bay City ISD locked down two campuses.

Bay City ISD Superintendent Keith Brown told parents in the letter that the two schools were placed on lockdown "as a precaution."

"Please know that no specific threat was made to any school within our district," Brown wrote. "We ask parents and students to confirm facts and be cautious of what they share on social media."

Houston ISD called parents of Northside High, Westside High and Tanglewood Middle and told them those schools had been targeted by the same threat.

"We immediately notified (Houston Independent School District) Police, and officers determined the threat was not credible," the call said. "However, HISD Police have assigned extra officers to patrol our campus as a precautionary measure."

Some of the schools named in online threats include Elsik High School in Alief ISD; Cy-Parks High School in Cy-Fair ISD; and Morton Ranch High School in Katy ISD, which came from the locotheclown.htx Instagram page.

Houston ISD’s Jack Yates High School was also on the locotheclown.tx hit list, which also threatened to kidnap students and kill teachers as as they were making their way to their cars.

The threat alarmed some parents.

“This would make me drive my daughter to and from school, and maybe walk inside to get her instead of walking to the car by herself,” Rochelle Hudson told KHOU-11.

The Houston Chronicle reported that Spring ISD also received similar threats to students and teachers at Dekaney High School and Westside High School.

Spring ISD sent a letter home to parents after the threats were made Sept 29:

“We have been made aware of a social media hoax made toward school districts and campuses across the state, including several Spring ISD campuses. Although this was determined to be a hoax and we will have school tomorrow, please know that we have taken precaution with extra security at our campuses. We ask parents and students to confirm facts and be cautious of what they share via social media, although we do appreciate students and parents alerting our Spring ISD Police Department to potential threats. As you know, the safety of our students and staff is our top priority. Be assured that the Spring ISD administration and Spring ISD Police will continue to monitor this matter.”

Creepy clown sightings and encounters began to manifest at various locations throughout the U.S. at the end of August.

Six weeks ago, reports emerged from Greenville County, South Carolina, where residents claimed clowns were trying to lure children into wooded areas, while in Alabama authorities arrested three people who made creepy clown threats, which resulted in school lockdowns.

Since then, sightings have been reported from Florida to Oregon. Schools and school districts across the country reported similar clown threats.

Image: William Gray, via Flickr