[Last updated on October 28, 2016, at 12:39 p.m. After breaking this story, the hoax post was removed from the website.]
Marion County – Parents panicked Friday after a website known for spreading rumors posted that Lake Weir High School had been closed due to a sinkhole. By 9:30 a.m., the hoax had been shared more than 50,000 times on social media.
The post read:
“A High School in Marion County has been shut down this afternoon as county officials discovered a massive sinkhole just below the surface of the school. Marion County officials have declared the School “unsafe” and “unfit” to be an operable learning environment. Parents will be contacted for an immediate town hall meeting in reguards [sic] to relocation and possible withdrawals. School is no longer enforced until further notice.” (See post)
Ocala Post reached out to officials and confirmed the information was in fact a hoax.
Marion County Sheriff’s Office Assistant Public Information Officer, Lauren Lettelier, said, “We made contact with LWHS and they have advised that that is a rumor.”
Marion County Public Schools Public Relations Officer, Kevin Christian, said, “There is absolutely no truth to this at all.”
Sorry kids, does not look like there is a chance the earth will “swallow” your school work after all.
The school is perfectly safe.
Officials want the rumor debunked as quickly as possible.
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