"When you start talking about a student bringing a firearm onto campus, especially on the heels of the event in Nashville, it terrifies everyone and it can send people into a panic," Conroe ISD Police Chief Matthew Blakelock said.
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Blakelock said the district has used the Anonymous Alerts app since 2018 and encourages parents, educators, and students to download it from their district's page.
"It allows them to send a text message alert to our campus administration as well as to the police department 24 hours a day to report any type of concerning behavior," Blakelock said.
Whether real or fake, he says every alert and tip they receive is investigated.
"It gave us enough information to be able to identify someone very quickly," Blakelock said.
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Michelle Gay, director of Safe and Sound Schools, a non-profit school safety advocacy and resource organization, lost her daughter in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
She applauds the district's quick response to the threat and believes it made a huge difference.
"That's powerful and that will lead to more students speaking up," Gay said.