Florida education leaders want parents to be reminded annually that they can face consequences if their children report false threats of violence.

A 12-year-old Sebastian Middle School student was arrested on felony charges following an investigation with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office about threats made to conduct a school shooting.

Students across Northeast Florida will be heading back to school Wednesday, so it’s time to get back into the fall semester swing. Parents and students, here’s what you need to know for Clay County.

The Fortify Florida app, also called FortifyFL, was created by the state in 2018, as part of a response to the Parkland school shooting in which 17 students and staff members were killed. For example, 437 anonymous tips were reported through Fortify Florida in the month of January 2021. The survey showed that 62 percent of tips coming into the Fortify Florida app were spam, and only 27 percent were actionable. Assistant Special Agent in Charge Annie White, who presented information on the Fortify Florida app to the commission on Wednesday, said the app has seen “abuse of the system” because state law requires reporting to remain anonymous. Schacter proposed extending the survey to all school districts to get a “full picture” of the statewide app’s effectiveness.