Coral Springs Police are increasing their presence at Taravella High School after a series of incidents including a fire started by a student in a school locker room.
The fire was started Tuesday by a 17-year-old student in the men's locker room on the first floor of the school at 10600 Riverside Drive, police said.
Police said the teen poured nail polish remover on the floor and lit it on fire. A teacher who was leaving his office nearby saw the teen running away from the fire, police said.
Teachers were able to put the small fire out. The teen was later arrested at his home and faces a charge of arson of an occupied structure.
Later in the day, a fire alarm was pulled in the school, with no fire, and students were evacuated to the football field. While on the field, two of the students got into a fight, police said.
Police also said that they were made aware Tuesday of information on social media about a potential threat.
“There was some social media buzz going around that there were potential threats to the students at the school,” said Sgt. Carla Kmiotek of Coral Springs Police. “As a police department, we take information like that seriously. However, we don’t have any evidence to show there’s any legitimacy to that threat."
School officials said another fire was lit in a trash can in the boy's bathroom on Monday.
The school’s principal, Shawn Cerra, took to social media about the recent problems saying, “Pretty sad, JPT is safe despite some social media attempts to discredit what we do and scare others, police are on it.”
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Students NBC 6 talked to said they were confident in their safety and thought the incidents may have been blown out of proportion.
"There’s a couple of kids getting in fights and a couple of kids setting fires, trying to make it look like a big deal; I don’t think it is," said student Hunter Maston. "I think it’s good that we have the protections, but I don’t think anything’s gonna happen that we need it."
Cerra is holding an "optional parent conference" Thursday morning at the school.
