Saint Lucie County high schools on heightened awareness

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - The St. Lucie County School District says high schools will be on heightened awareness on Friday after rumors of a note that threatened school safety .

School resource officers and law enforcement are taking the matter seriously as "potentially credible". The district is not sure where the note originated from, but say students are using social media to talk about the note.

Meanwhile, a parent told us about receiving an automated message from an area school that students should not bring backpacks to school on Friday.

The message says "In the interest of safety for students, staff and family, we are not permitting backpacks or duffle bags of any size etc on campus for Friday, December 21st . Should a student bring such a bag, it will be collected upon arrival and returned at the end of the day. We want to stress that at this time there have not been any threats made against our school. These procedures are being put in place as a precautionary measure."

The school district says the automated message is not unusual the day before vacation in order to discourage students from playing jokes.