TUPPER LAKE — The Tupper Lake Police Department maintained an increased presence at the community’s elementary, as well as middle and high school at the beginning of the week.

TLPD Chief Eric Proulx emphasized this was just a precautionary request from the school in response to a threat made on social media to the Malone Central School District, and there were no specific threats to the TLCSD at this time. Proulx said that, apart from the school’s request, TLPD has not received any information on their end suggesting that there is a threat to the schools at this point.

“The request for assistance came from the school, (Superintendent Jaycee) Welsh said this had to do with a threat made in Malone, but it’s nothing to do with the Tupper Lake school district,” he said. “The (TLPD) officers working were at the schools during their opening, and my school resource officer worked as normal through both schools throughout the day.”

State Police spokeswoman Brandi Ashley said the threats to the schools in Malone were determined to be hoaxes, and similar threats had been made at districts around the state and around the country. She said these hoax threats tend to happen every time there’s a high-profile school shooting in recent years.

The most recent American school shooting, which occurred on Sept. 4 at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia — about 40 miles northeast of Atlanta — resulted in the deaths of two students and two teachers, as well as injuring nine others, according to the Associated Press.

The State Police computer crimes unit is investigating the fake threats to Malone, and Ashley said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation usually take on these cases when they happen nationwide.

Welsh thanked the TLPD at the village board meeting Monday evening.

“(TLPD) did a lot for us today. The increased (police) presence at both buildings today was wonderful. It put some parents at ease, given the climate of social media these days,” Welsh said at the meeting.

Welsh said the threat to Malone was “pretty widely shared on social media over the weekend” throughout the North Country.

“The Franklin, Essex and Hamilton county (school) superintendents got together and talked about what we wanted to do. A couple of school districts felt that their student bodies weren’t really too affected and they didn’t have any evidence that this posting was going around in their districts,” she said Tuesday.

However, Welsh said word of the Malone threats had begun circulating in Tupper Lake.

“We did have evidence that the posting was going around, so we just wanted to make sure that parents here had that extra layer of security that we knew about it. Out of an abundance of caution, we decided that we were going to have an increased level of police presence,” she said.

Welsh emphasized that communication before the start of the school week was important.

“We did send a message out to all staff and parents Sunday evening. It told them about the situation that happened in Malone with some specific details that it was an out-of-state threat and that there was no specific threat to us or anybody in the North Country. The message let them know that out of an abundance of caution, we would be increasing police presence on Monday, which is when that threat existed,” she said.

“Even though the threat was not credible, we knew that it was on people’s minds,” Welsh added.

This precaution comes as TLCSD moved to vote on whether to approve its districtwide safety plan at a special board of education meeting held Tuesday. Although the vote was not scheduled until after press time, the plan was expected to pass, according to Welsh.

All districts throughout the state are mandated to have safety plans, which are required to be reviewed each year.

The plan, which is partially confidential to not compromise response procedures in an emergency, was developed by district staff and local law enforcement. A public comment period was held from Aug. 13 to Sept. 13. Comments could be made in an online submission form, by phone, or in person at the district’s regular board meeting on Sept. 9. Welsh and the board reviewed submitted comments at that meeting. Welsh thanked those who had taken the time to send them, and noted that the district worked to incorporate them.

(Staff Writer Aaron Marbone contributed to this report.)