Rutherford school board asks state to revoke licenses of students who make online threats

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    NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WSMV) — The Rutherford County School District approved a resolution on Thursday to add another layer of punishment to stop students from making threats.

The school district adopted the resolution asking the state legislature to take away a student’s driver’s license if they make an online threat.

“They like to drive, they like to get out and about, and if maybe we take something like that, that privilege away, maybe that’ll be a deterrence to them making those threats,” Sean Martin, Rutherford County Schools Assistant Director of School Safety, said.

The punishment would be on top of the zero tolerance law which was passed by the Tennessee General Assembly in March and was enacted in July.

“What the board is doing is they’re saying let’s enhance it just a little bit more and if someone does make some type of threat, let’s put more restrictions and consequences on that threat that they’ve made,” Martin said.

The board also voted to require training for substitute teachers for lockdown and school safety measures. The district hopes to get all their substitutes trained by March of 2024.

“I think it’s always in the back of everybody’s mind in safety is how are we going to train the substitutes, because they do need to know because they are in classrooms each and every day,” Martin said.

According to the proposal, there is currently no requirement for substitute teachers to have the training, but most of the schools have a number of substitutes working on a daily basis.

At the beginning of October, board members signed and mailed the resolution to their state representatives and senators asking them to consider making it a state law.

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