"Schools are in a really bad position," said researcher Amy Klinger, of the nonprofit Educator's School Safety Network. "People are going to be mad if you evacuate; people are going to be upset if you don't evacuate."
The number of school bomb threats the last academic year alone, based on media reports, was at least 1,267, roughly twice as many as in 2012-13, said Klinger, who also teaches educational administration at Ohio's Ashland University.
Her group estimates there were about eight bomb threats per school day last year, and that doesn't include other threats of violence and disruption. Massachusetts had the most in that tally at 135 bomb threats, followed by Ohio with 96."
