After false rumors of possible violence during the Spirit Week assembly began circling throughout the school Thursday afternoon, heightened security and an altered bell schedule were implemented at DGS Friday and about 500 students were called out of school.

Principal Ed Schwartz said the rumor generated from a lunch conversation regarding the recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida. He said that although there was never a true threat to the school, the changes were made on Friday to help those who were afraid feel more comfortable during the school day.

In an email to staff yesterday, Schwartz explained what happened, “A student stopped me in the middle of the day on Thursday and shared with me a text exchange that he was having with a friend. His friend ‘heard’ that someone was going to shoot during the assembly on Friday. Within the text exchange, his friend mentioned hearing it from another, who heard it from another, who heard it from another.”

Schwartz further explained the steps administration took to address the issue, “We only had first and last names for the student I was speaking with and his friend. Tracking backwards, the deans spoke to every kid, learning the full name of the next kid. The furthest student along the ‘phone tag chain’ shared that kids were talking about school shootings in general and said that if someone were to shoot, doing it at assemblies would be a way to do it. That grew into ‘someone is going to shoot at our assembly on Friday.’”

Between 75 and 100 people who had heard the rumors reported them in some way to the school, Schwartz said. The school received about 30 anonymous alerts Thursday, and many reported what they had heard directly to a teacher, dean or Schwartz.

Schwartz said that the only information he received from students was what they had heard, “No one provided any specifics beyond ‘hearing’ it,” Schwartz said in the email.

Even with these safety precautions, some students still felt unsafe and stayed at home. In addition to the 500 students recorded as absent Friday by attendance, about 40 students were dismissed early.

“I will say just judging by how many were in the assembly, quite a few were here. It was a pretty full assembly. I thought it was pretty good,” Schwartz said.

The Spirit Week assembly was moved from after eighth period to after second period. Schwartz said the reasoning behind this change was to increase supervision, as many students have an eighth period early release. He said extra security as well as a heightened police presence throughout the school day were implemented to help students feel safer.

“Our whole goal was to try to create an environment that instilled less fear in you guys and our teachers, and that was our goal. Because 100 percent, I never felt that there was going to be violence because of all the checking we did and conversations we had; I felt 100 percent comfortable that we were safe. But I knew others didn’t feel that way because they didn’t have all of my information, so how can we make everyone feel better, we made a safer environment,” Schwartz said.

Schwartz expressed his gratitude to the student body for immediately reporting the rumors to administration.

“I’m really proud of you guys because you’ve done exactly what we’ve asked. If you hear something, tell us. And everybody did that,” Schwartz said.

Administration believed there was no threat after they talked with all students who were rumored to be threatening the assembly, according to Schwartz. An email with an attached video explaining the situation was sent out to DGS students and parents Thursday evening.

“We have checked in and talked to every student who has heard about the rumors, and we feel that our building is safe. We have no credible threat for our building tomorrow,” Schwartz said in the video.

The recent Florida school shooting on Feb. 14 has made the school more “diligent” of student and staff safety, according to Schwartz. In a morning announcement he made the morning after the shooting, Schwartz emphasized the importance of keeping each other safe, saying “We all share equally in the responsibility of keeping our building safe.”

Schwartz said he believes the DGS community cares about each other and does a good job of looking out for one another and said he thinks this is the best way to prevent any type of violence.

“Truth be told, I think the greatest way to fight violence, any kind of violence, is through love and kindness. Because if you care about each other and look out after each other, people are less likely to do something like that, if they feel a part of something,” Schwartz said.